To Boldly Go
by amylase126
Summary: Lieutenant Commander Rosalyn Moure is a quiet, young girl who is a research engineer at Starfleet. When the academy forces her into teaching again after years, she crosses paths with James Kirk. Over time, their lives and fates become intertwined in ways neither of them could have imagined.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for Rosie**

**XXXX**

Lieutenant Commander Rosalyn Moure was sitting on a ledge just outside of Starfleet Academy, poking at her PADD, while trying to finish devising a lesson plan for the engineering class she was about to take over teaching. At just twenty years old, she didn't much like teaching, as most of the students refused to take her seriously. Yes, she was young. She had come to the academy when she was just fifteen to begin seriously studying engineering, after she had built a functioning model of a spacecraft that year and been recruited. She hadn't officially joined Starfleet until she was eighteen, but she was certainly one of the best engineers they'd ever seen.

She sighed, frustrated, and plopped the PADD down onto her lap. She vastly preferred research engineering, where she didn't have to interact with many people. She was a quiet girl, never having been very social. That wasn't to say she couldn't be social when she had to, but she preferred not to. She'd had a few friends here and there in her five years at the academy, but they'd all been older and had moved on to work on starships. Now, the academy had assigned her to take over this class because the current teacher was going out on maternity leave, but they had hinted they felt she could use the interaction with people. Tucking a loose strand of blonde hair behind her ear, she picked the PADD back up and began working again. However, that didn't last long.

A cadet plopped himself down alongside her on the ledge. "Hey," he said, a cocky grin crossing his face. "What's your name?"

Rosalyn tried to keep the frown off her face as she tried to direct her attention back to her work. "I'm busy," she replied.

"Well, that's a weird name," the man replied. "Hi Busy, I'm Jim." He stuck his hand out towards her. "Jim Kirk."

"My name's not busy," Rosalyn rolled her eyes at the guy. Somehow he apparently thought his quirky smile and big blue eyes would automatically win her over. "Seriously, I'm trying to work here."

Before Jim could reply again though, an older, gruff looking man came storming over. "Is my friend here botherin' you, Miss?" the man grumbled in a Southern drawl.

"Indeed," she shot a glance over at Jim as she answered, and it looked like he was pouting. "I told him I was busy."

"Jim, leave the girl alone," the man scolded. "I'm sorry about him. He thinks anything that's female will just succumb to his charms," he apologized for Jim, who still hadn't bothered to leave yet. "Dr. Leonard McCoy," he offered his hand to her.

She shook the doctor's hand, "Rosalyn Moure."

"Nice to meet you," he nodded his head. When he released her hand, he grabbed Jim's arm. "Now, say goodbye to Rosalyn here."

Jim's eyes narrowed grumpily, but he plastered his smirk back on his face when he glanced in her direction. "See ya around, Rosie," he called out as Dr. McCoy hauled him away.

She shook her head, as she glanced back at her PADD, trying to get her focus back once again.

**XXXX**

A few days later, Rosie stood at the front of the lecture hall, placing herself behind the podium so the students couldn't see her nervously wringing her hands. She hadn't taught in almost three years; after what happened the academy hadn't been comfortable letting her in front of a group of people. But now that time had passed, they felt she needed to start trying to reintegrate herself into academy life.

The class was soon to start in just a few more minutes when he waltz in. Jim. Again. Rosie tried to hold back a sigh. "Hey, Rosie!" he called out as he walked to the front of the room. He sat down in a seat right in the front row and kept talking, "Fancy seeing you here. Basic engineering, huh? Easy class. This is the first time I've ever shown up before class and the teacher's not here. Figures. How long do we have to wait for them to show up before we can leave?"

Rosie blinked, baffled. "I'm standing right here, you know." When Jim's eyebrows seemed to furrow in confusion, she continued, "I'm taking over this class for a while."

Jim sat up straighter from his slouched position, "Taking...over?"

"The class," Rosie supplied. "I'm taking over the class. I'm the teacher."

"But...but..." Jim sputtered. "You're so...you..."

"Young?" When Jim nodded, Rosie answered, "Yes. I'm twenty. I'm also the academy's chief research engineering officer. I don't usually teach, but the course's usual instructor is currently on maternity leave as of today. People don't generally make teaching easy for me because of my age, so I'd appreciate a little cooperation, Jim. Okay?"

"Ye..." Jim coughed, "yeah. Okay." He sat back in his chair, clearly trying to process the new information.

"Thank you," Rosie said. Turning her attention to the room, she took a deep breath and steadied herself. Yes, she hated teaching. Yes, it made her nervous. However, she was more than capable of being an effective teacher, and while most people didn't care, the few that did deserved her to give the best lecture she could. She wiped her palms off on her uniform dress before she began speaking, "Hello everyone. I'm Lieutenant commander Moure. I'm sure you're wondering where your regular instructor is..."

**XXXX**

**A/N: Thanks for reading! I've been toying with this in my head for years since Star Trek came out in 2009, and seeing Into Darkness this weekend has inspired me to see what happens with it once it's on paper! **


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I only own Rosie.**

**XXXX**

A few months had passed since that rough first day in the classroom. Jim was rummaging through the living quarters he shared with Dr. McCoy, Bones as he called him. "Have you seen my PADD?" he asked as he chucked a dirty shirt across the room.

Bones looked up from the medical article he was reading on his own PADD, "Why? You never actually use it."

"It's Tuesday."

"Oh, right," Bones muttered. "You know you could just show up in the study room and sit there. Rosie knows you're not actually ever studying."

"Yeah right," Jim snorted.

"She told me so, Jim." When Jim looked over at the doctor, he shrugged. "She and I are friends. You might try it sometime. Just being friends with a girl. Your flirtation gets obnoxious."

"Found it!" Jim proclaimed loudly after having shoved some more clothing off his dresser. "See you later, Bones!" And he hurried out the door, leaving the doctor rolling his eyes at Jim's nonsense.

XXXX

As Rosie entered the study room to work on a research proposal, she spotted Jim in his typical spot. She'd hoped he would stop showing up once she stopped teaching the class, but that day had came and went a few weeks ago. She usually sat across the room from him, and he would eventually move over and try to strike up a conversation with her. Today however, she felt the urge to do something different.

She walked over to his table and sat down across from him. She didn't say anything to him as she pulled out her PADD and began reading through the bit of the proposal she had already written.

Jim was clearly surprised at her actions and as such, didn't say anything for quite a while. She had managed to proofread a page and type up another paragraph before he found his voice, "Hey, Rosie."

"Hi, Jim," she replied without looking up from the PADD. "What're you studying?"

Jim's eyebrows shot up. Rosie usually didn't even acknowledge his presence. "Er...um..." he grasped for some subject to throw out there. Uhura throwing a book at him the other day popped into his mind, "Xenolinguistics."

Rosie kept her expression stoic, not even bothering to look up from her research proposal as she answered, "You're not taking xenolinguistics."

"Of course I am!" the blonde man across from her sputtered, trying sound indignant despite being caught in his lie.

"No," she said, looking at him finally as she placed her PADD down on the table. "You're not. I happened to stumble upon your course listing the other day. So why're you lying to me?"

Jim sighed, running a hand through his unruly hair, mussing it up further. Bones words resounded through his head, Just being friends with a girl. Your flirtation gets obnoxious. "You're right. I'm not studying xenolinguistics. I'm never studying anything when we meet up here on Tuesdays." When Rosie tilted her head in intrigue, he continued. "I wanted to spend time with you, but you won't give me the time of day. I thought showing up here to 'study' would do that for me. It's driving me crazy. Women don't typically ignore me."

"Wow," she murmured, leaning back in her chair as she let out a soft sigh. "That was a lot more honesty than I expected from you."

"Is that a bad thing?" Jim leaned forward, his arms crossed on the table in front of him.

"No...no," she shook her head. "Look...Jim, I'm not looking for a one night stand or a relationship or anything..."

"Can we start over?" Jim cut her off quickly. "I'm sorry I was such an ass the first time we met." He uncrossed his arms and stuck his hand across the table. "Hi, my name's Jim. You're friends with my roommate, Bones."

Rosie stared at the hand for a moment before reaching her smaller hand over. As her soft hand slipped around his larger, calloused one, she smiled slightly. "Hi, Jim. I'm Rosie."

Jim flashed her a brilliant grin as he grasped her hand and shook it. "Hi, Rosie."

XXXX

The conversation had been slow at first, with Rosie being such a quiet person by nature, but eventually Jim had her laughing and opening up about herself. "So where did an engineering genius like you grow up?"

"You first," she smirked, her green eyes dancing with laughter.

"Middle of goddamn nowhere in Iowa. Cornfields everywhere."

She laughed, her soft voice ringing through the study room. When she composed herself enough to answer, she admitted "I actually wasn't really raised anywhere." When Jim's eyebrows furrowed, creasing his forehead, she continued, "My mom moved us around a lot. A lot a lot. At least twice a year. She knew I was smart enough that if Starfleet caught wind of me, they'd come looking to recruit me."

"Guess it didn't work too well," he snorted.

"No," she laughed lightly again, "I guess not. My mom disowned me when I actually went to the academy."

"Why?"

"She hates Starfleet. My father...I've never met him, but she said he was a Starfleet officer. He left her shortly after they found out she was pregnant and never contacted her again. She thinks somehow Starfleet made him leave her." She glanced down at her PADD and caught a glimpse of the time. "Oh crap," she popped up from the table and picked up her things. "Sorry, Jim. I didn't realize how late it is. I really need to work on this research proposal. See you around!" She flashed him a smile as she bustled out of the room.

XXXX

The sky was starting to darken as Jim made his way back to his living quarters. His head was reeling from the days events, but he couldn't keep a goofy grin off his face. When he entered the quarters he shared with Bones, he was alone. It took him a moment to remember that Bones was on rotation at Starfleet Medical for the night. Jim flopped down into his bed, closed his eyes, and dozed off.

XXXX

Jim was deep in slumber when he was pulled back to consiousness by someone shaking his shoulder. "Jim," Bones growled, "It's 0700. You got to get up if you want breakfast before class."

Jim cracked an eye open and peered at his friend. Rolling over, he buried his face into his pillow, before mumbling an unintelligible "mmffrrmph" that Bones took as a protest to getting up.

"Alright," Bones shrugged, leaving the blonde haired man laying in bed. "You just keep on layin' there. I was goin' to invite you to have breakfast with me and Rosie, but if you want to sleep, that's your perogative." And at that Jim leapt out of bed and began searching for a clean uniform. "I take it yesterday went well?"

"Yeah," Jim grinned like a cheshire cat, as he pulled a clean shirt over his head. "Went really well. Let's go!" And he rushed out the door, leaving the doctor shaking his head once again.

**XXXX**

**A/N: Thank you so much to everybody that read the prologue and decided to stick with the story! I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of people who decided to follow/favorite it on the first night of it's existence. **


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: I don't own anything except Rosie**

**XXXX**

Breakfast every morning and meeting in their study room on Tuesdays had led to Rosie becoming much more comfortable with Jim's antics. She was currently leaning on the headboard of Jim's bed, her blonde hair pulled up high in a ponytail, trying to work on a schematic while Jim babbled on. "I'll figure it out," he finished his argument lamely.

"Jim," she locked her green eyes on him, placing her work down on her lap, "you can't be serious." Jim was planning on facing the Kobayashi Maru for the second time the next morning. "You got your ass handed to you the last time. It's unbeatable."

"I don't believe in no-win scenarios. There has to be some way. And you don't know that. You said yourself it's one of the things you didn't help program."

"Shut up!" Rosie laughed as she chucked his pillow across the room at his head. "No, I didn't help program the test. But I know the guy that did. Not personally, but I do know of him. And he's no idiot. A pompous, follow-the-rules-to-a-tee jerk, maybe, but not an idiot."

"Well, he's still human. And humans make mistakes."

"Actually, he's Vulcan."

Bones, who had been trying to ignore the pair's argument until now, snorted while trying to conceal his laughter. Before Jim could reply though, a loud rapping began resounding off of the door to Jim and Bones' living quarters. "Jim?!" a high-pitched female voice whined, albeit slightly muffled, through the air. "Are you in there?"

"Shit," Jim murmured. "I'm not here." That comment was directed towards Bones, as Jim dove for the closet.

"Goddamn it, Jim. I'm a doctor, not a doorman!" the doctor grumbled as he stomped over to answer the door. He pressed the release button, and the doors slid open, revealing a young brunette.

"Is Jim here?" her voice was even more obnoxious unobstructed. "I've been trying to get ahold of him for days. I've been worried about him."

Bones leaned on the door, blocking the girl from pushing her way into the room. "Sorry, Miss," he said, his Southern accent thicker as he tried to coax the girl to leave. "You just missed him. Left for lunch."

"Oh," her big brown eyes shimmered with disappointment. "Well, if you do see him, could you tell him Emma is looking for him?"

"Of course," the doctor assured her. She smiled and turned to leave as Bones shut the doors. He turned, as Jim was skulking out of the closet, and fixed him with a glare. "I'm not here to do your dirty work. If that girl comes back, you're the one answerin' the door." And with that, the doctor gathered up what he had been working on and stalked out of the room.

"What?" Jim asked when he saw the look on Rosie's face. "He'll get over it."

"Do you seriously have to sleep with every girl that walks past you?"

"I don't sleep with every girl. I haven't slept with you."

"That's not the point," Rosie said as she scooted over to the end of the bed and placed her feet on the floor. "You can't keep using women and just tossing them away, Jim. It's not fair to them."

"Some of them don't mind. I can't help there's a handful that get themselves obsessed!" Jim tried to argue his way out of the corner Rosie had pushed him into. He didn't like feeling trapped, and it made him blurt out something he would regret almost instantly, "What would you know anyway? I've never even seen you look at a guy since I met you over a year ago. There's no way you'd understand." Rosie's eyes widened in surprise at his callous statement. She stood up and smoothed out her skirt, before gathering her things and heading towards the door to leave. Jim sputtered after her, already realizing what he said, "Wait, wait! Rosie!" She didn't stop, however, and the doors slid shut behind her as Jim managed to shout out, "I didn't mean it!"

XXXX

Jim spent the rest of the day looking for Rosie. As he wandered the academy's campus, it was a given that he would eventually run into Bones at some point. The doctor sensed something was up, and when Jim explained what had happened, the doctor had chewed him out, demanding he go find Rosie and fix things. Which was exactly what he had been doing in the first place, but Jim was already in enough trouble so he hadn't bothered to point that out.

It took most of the day, but Jim finally found her in a study room. Not their usual one, but one much further off the beaten track of the academy, in a secluded corner of a building. She was sitting as a table as far from the door as possible, her eyes fixated on her PADD.

Jim approached her cautiously, and when he was close enough, silently slipped into the chair beside her. When she still didn't look at him, he grasped her PADD and gently pulled it out of her hands, placing it on the table in front of her. "I'm sorry," he whispered, even though they were alone in the room. "I'm really really sorry."

"I know. I know you didn't mean it," Rosie gave him a half-attempt at a smile. She rubbed at her cheeks, which he noted were red and puffy, with a few tear streaks still remaining. "Jim," she started, but he cut her off.

"You don't have to explain anything to me. I don't deserve it."

"I've had one boyfriend," she ignored him. "Just one. I was seventeen. We were working on a classified engineering project together. I really liked him. We were together for almost eight months. Nothing ever happened, really. I didn't want to because I was so young, and he was older. I wasn't ready. And then one day, he was just gone." Jim winced at that one, now understanding exactly why she had tried to confront him. "No reason why. No contact ever again. It's like he vanished." Another tear slipped out her eye. Jim wiped it away for her. "I searched Starfleet's records to see where he could've gone, but he was even gone from there too. So I do know. I know how that girl at your door feels. It's a horrible feeling, Jim."

"I'm sorry," Jim croaked again, leaning over and wrapping his arms around her in a hug. She stiffened at first, pulling back slightly, but gradually leaned into his embrace. They stayed like that for a few moments, before Jim pulled back. "Come on," he smiled gently at her. "Let's go get something to eat. It'll make us both feel better." Rosie smiled, wiping her face again, and let Jim lead the way.

XXXX

The next morning, the argument was mostly forgotten. With it behind them, Jim now stood just outside the room where he Kobayashi Maru test was to take place. "Please," he begged Rosie, "come in with me. You can just sit at a console or something."

"Jim," Rosie was exasperated, flinging her arms as she talked. "I can't! I told you a hundred times the first time you took the test and a hundred times when you signed up to take it this time! I'm not allowed in the test room."

"Rosie!"

"No!" she shouted, garnering some stares from people walking by. "Stop asking. It's not happening. Go in. Take the test. I'll be up in the room observing." And she walked off towards the grading room.

"Fine!" Jim shouted after her, frustrated. He entered the room, sat in the simulator's captain's chair, and got ready to face the test.

XXXX

Rosie closed her eyes as the Klingon ships in the simulator fired on Jim's imaginary ship and destroyed it. Again. The same result as the first time he'd taken the test. When she opened her eyes, she could clearly see the anger radiating off of him, his eyes narrowed, his jaw clenched in a hard firm line.

When she saw him get up and storm out of the simulator's room, she hurried out of the room after him. "Jim!" she shouted after him, but he kept on walking. "Jim!" She jogged slightly to catch up to him. "There is no winning the test. I checked the parameters while I was up there. The only two outcomes are you and your ship are destroyed by the Klingons, or they destroy the stranded Kobayashi Maru."

"That's bullshit!" Jim shouted, as he stopped walking and turned towards her. "Complete bullshit! There would be some other way in real life. There would have to be." He crossed his arms across his chest, his eyes glancing away from her as he fumed.

"I agree," she nodded, reaching out and placing her hand on his arm. "Give it some time. I think we can come up with something eventually." Her smirk was far more mischievous than any Jim had ever seen grace her face before.

**XXXX**

**A/N: Thank you all so much for reading! I appreciate the comments and all the follows/favorites! It means a ton to me. Sorry if there's any glaringly obvious errors in this chapter (if there are, please let me know :) ). I wrote this during my down time at the office today.  
**


	4. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything except Rosie :)**

**XXXX**

It took a few days before Rosie let Jim in on her plan. She dodged his incessant begging for information about the Kobayashi Maru by keeping busy. She was teaching two classes now, much to her dismay, as well as dabbling in a few engineering projects on the side. "Come on!" Jim began harassing her again at lunch. "Why are you doing this to me?"

She couldn't help but laugh. "I've been busy!" She giggled when Jim scowled at her. "Okay, okay. It was fun to see you squirm, having to wait. But I was really busy!" When Jim started whining again, she shushed him. "Hush! God, all right already. But keep it down! We don't want everyone here to hear you."

She laid out some handwritten diagrams in front of him. Jim leaned forward to get a better look at them. There were boxes and circles and looping lines of all different colors. "I went and observed the test a few more times after you took it. This is what I got from hacking into the system's program. There's obviously only the two outcomes I told you about," she motioned to the bottom of one of the pages, pointing to two boxes. "Every decision you make during it somehow in one way or another leads to one of these. Now," she continued on, bringing a separate piece of paper to his attention, "here's what I think we can do." The paper looked similar to the other, but with three boxes at the bottom. She talked animatedly, her eyes glittering wildly as she was in her element, as she explained her plan for Jim's third attempt at the Kobayashi Maru.

When she was finished, she smiled. "What do you think?"

Jim leaned back in his chair and ran a hand through his hair. "I think," he said, "that just might work."

"Of course it'll work!" Rosie punched him lightly in the shoulder. "Don't be such an ass. I only wanted to know if you liked the idea, which, obviously you do. It might take a little while for me to program it though. I want it to be as untraceable as possible."

"You mean us," Jim corrected her. When Rosie furrowed her brows in confusion, he clarified, "For us to program it. There's no way I'm letting you have all the fun."

"Ha, okay," Rosie agreed readily. "But don't let Bones know what we're up to. He'll freak out."

XXXX

Days turned to weeks and the weeks then turned into months. Rosie and Jim worked hard on the program that would change the conditions of the Kobayashi Maru. As they were nearing the end of their project however, they didn't realized how quickly their plans would be delayed.

XXXX

Rosie was quickly approaching her twenty-third birthday. She had been having a wonderful week, with everything going smoothly. The programming for the Kobayashi Maru hack was almost done. She had finished up a research proposal and was just about ready to submit it for review, hopefully to start working on new type of shield technology. Even the new intern the academy had forced her to supervise was working out well.

She did something she never allowed herself to do while in her research lab that day; she sat back in her chair, a smile on her face, and let her mind drift. It had been a slow day, and the intern, a young male Andorian, was busily preparing element samples for later use in other labs. Bones was on rotation at Starfleet Medical. Jim was in a class. _Well, supposed to be in class_, Rosie thought to herself, shaking her head slightly.

Thinking about Jim, she was quite amazed at how good a friendship they had forged. It was not what she had expected at all when the wild, man-whore Jim Kirk had sat down next to her that fateful day in the study room and offered to start over on their relationship. He was still wild. He was most definitely still a man-whore, despite her trying to talk him out of it. But he was definitely her best friend. Her smile was growing, when she noticed what her assistant was doing.

"Wait!" she shouted realizing from across the room that he had two volatile chemicals close together. "Don't prep those so close together!" He was clearly not listening, and when she made a move to go over to him, she saw his arm bump into the erlenmeyer flask. It tipped; it's contents pouring over the tabletop.

And that's when everything went black.

XXXX

Jim straightened his shirt as he snuck out of the girl's living quarters. Janice…or was it Janine?...had been a good time, but she too had started down the I-love-you-Jim path, so it was time to cut the strings. It was getting harder and harder to randomly sleep with and leave people. Rosie's words echoed in his head every time he did it, and it was starting to grate on his resolve.

As he was walking towards dining hall to grab a snack since his romp in the bedroom had left him famished, he spotted a crowd down a hall, pushing and craning their necks to see what was going on. Curious, he changed course and headed towards the mass of people instead.

"Hey," he asked the first person he neared, "what's going on?"

"Didn't you hear?" the guy replied without even looking at him. "A research room exploded."

"Exploded?'

"Yeah," the guy continued, clearly fascinated. "Some chemicals got mixed or something. They took two people to Medical, but I think there might be more people in there or something. Otherwise I don't know why everybody'd be hanging around."

Jim's throat constricted with panic. "Who was in there? Who'd they take out?"

"A blue dude and a blonde chick."

And Jim set off running towards Starfleet Medical.

XXXX

Jim made it across the campus in record time. He burst through the front doors of Medical and shouted as loud as he could, "Bones!"

The nurses there leapt up and were obviously silently debating whether to kick the insane man out of the building or inject him with a sedative, when Dr. McCoy came out. "Jim."

"Please tell me it wasn't her," Jim choked out, grabbing onto McCoy for support.

Leonard cleared his throat before answering, "It was her, Jim." When Jim turned white as a sheet and looked like he was about to faint, the doctor steered him towards the chairs that lined the wall of the waiting room. "Woah, woah. Sit down, Kirk. Sit." He forced the blonde man into a chair. "It was her, but she's alive. Battered pretty bad, but alive."

"Alive," Jim breathed out, not realized he'd even been holding his breath. "Oh, thank god." Bones placed his hand on his upper arm for comfort, as Jim pressed his face into his hands. "Can I see her?"

"She's unconscious right now," Bones explained cautiously. "Sedated. But I can take you to her room, and you can sit with her." Jim nodded, and the doctor gently lead the way.

XXXX

Jim stood in the doorway and stared at Rosie. She looked so tiny, lying in the huge medical bed. From what he could see of her that was still uncovered, her arms and face were scratched up badly, he guessed probably from the shrapnel the explosion sent flying into the air. Her lower lip was split deeply, and the area around her right eye was red and swollen.

Tentatively, he walked across the room, trying to keep the stomping of his cadet uniform boots as quiet as possible. He grabbed the uncomfortable looking chair from the wall and placed it alongside her bed. Sitting next to her, he slipped his right hand into her left one. "Hey, Rosie," he whispered to her, and gently brushed a blonde strand of hair away from her face. "It's me. It's Jim. I'm here."

He couldn't believe this was the girl who was so full of life, so vibrant this morning. He kept talking to her, to reassure her he was really there. "Bones says you're okay. You're kinda beat up, but I guess that happens when you're in close proximity to an explosion," he gave a halfhearted laugh. He squeezed her hand, "Take your time waking up. I'll be here when you do."

Jim sat there with her for hours. He talked to her, telling her about his day, recounting some of his craziest antics, about his mom, anything that came to his mind. Eventually, he dozed off as his adrenaline ebbed, no longer able to keep his eyes open.

The sound of his name woke him up. "Jim," Rosie was managing to squeak out.

"I'm here, Rosie. I'm here," he sat upright so fast the room seemed to spin for a moment. She squeezed his hand in response and gave him a small smile, but then a wince as the smiled pulled at her split lip. "I'll go call Bones, okay?" Rosie nodded.

XXXX

It was a few days before Rosie was given the clear to leave Medical. Jim visited her everyday, staying as long as he possibly could before having to go to class or getting kicked out. When it was time to leave, both Bones and Jim were there to help her. They each took turns supporting her as they made their way to her living quarters.

When they reached her room, she reached out, albeit with difficulty, and tapped in the code to unlock the doors. They slid open, and Jim helped her cross the space to her bed. He helped her sit down on the edge, while Bones rummaged through a dresser looking for something for her to wear. She was still currently wearing her hospital gown, as the explosion had damaged the uniform she had been wearing in the laboratory.

"Here we go," Bones announce as he pulled a large button down shirt out of the drawer. "This should be good. Won't hurt your cuts, and if you can't lift your arms, we can just unbutton it." He tossed the blue pinstriped shirt over to Jim.

Jim looked at the shirt and then looked at Rosie. She wouldn't meet his gaze. Jim was absolutely certain it was a man's shirt, but he didn't comment on it. He cleared his throat, "Can you lift your arms?"

Rosie tried, but only got them a few inches from her side before gasping and dropping them. The explosion had caused her to land strangely on her shoulder when she was knocked out. She tried once again, almost desperately, before giving up. "No, I can't."

"Let me help you." Jim moved over and sat next to her on the edge of the bed. He reached behind her and untied the hospital gown's ties. The gown fell from her shoulders. She wasn't naked; she was wearing shorts and a tank top. The tank top did not, however, manage to cover the large scar that curved from the top of her left shoulder down across her collarbone. "Shit," Jim muttered as he reached out compulsively and traced it. Rosie froze and looked away from him. "What happened?"

"I…I…" she stuttered. She steadied herself, taking a deep breath before continuing. "When I was seventeen and working on that classified project, I had two partners. I told you about one," she tiled her head towards Bones, telling Jim not to say anything. He nodded his understanding. "Another was a doctor. Don't ask why we needed a doctor for engineering research. " She fixed him with a stern gaze that he definitely did not dispute. "When my one partner…disappeared from the project…" she chose her words carefully, clear she had no intentions to mention the man to Bones. "A few weeks later, the other one, the doctor. He raped and tried to kill me." She ran her fingers over the old scar. "He cut me open with a handheld laser cutter pen."

"Jesus," Jim breathed, unsure of what else to say. "I'm so sorry."

"He was jealous. My partner and I were the primary researchers. He thought we were taking his credit. When my partner disappeared, he thought we were fleeing together with the project."

"They caught the bastard?"

"No," she shook her head sadly. "Last I heard, he'd changed his name and fled. Gave himself surgery to alter his appearance."

Leonard could see the conversation heading further into dark places so he jumped in, "Okay, no more of this talk. Jim, help her into the shirt for God's sake." Jim did so as the doctor kept barking orders. "Rosie, lie down. I've got some painkillers for you." Once she was tucked into her bed with the painkillers injected, Bones pulled Jim away from her. In the room over, he whispered, "One of us should stay with her for the night."

"I'll do it," Jim volunteered immediately. "You knew about the rape." Jim stated when Leonard couldn't meet his gaze.

"Yes."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Not my place, Jim. I'm her doctor as well as her friend."

"Fine," Jim sighed. "I'll call you if anything happens." The doctor nodded and headed out of the room. Jim walked back into the bedroom. Rosie was starting to doze off, the painkillers making her drowsy. "Can I lay on the bed with you?" He was hesitant, trying not to make her anymore uncomfortable than she needed to be, considering the night's revelations.

"Sure," she murmured.

He lay down next to her, keeping his head propped up with a pillow and the headboard, and settled in for the night of observation. It was quiet for a while, but Jim couldn't help the thought that was hovering on the tip of his tongue. "Rosie?" he started. "Can I ask you something?" Her muffled reply was indecipherable, but he took it as a yes, "Is that his shirt?" She opened one eye and peered at him but didn't say anything. "Your ex. Is that his shirt?"

"Yes," was all she said before the painkillers forced her to slip from consciousness.

Jim stayed up the entire night keeping an eye on her. He certainly wouldn't have slept even if he weren't watching over her, not with all the new information swirling through his mind.

**XXXX**

**A/N: Looooong chapter! Hope you all enjoyed! **


	5. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I only own Rosie.**

**XXXX**

Slowly but surely, Rosie was healing. The scrapes and bruises were fading, all under the watchful eyes of Bones and Jim. Mostly Jim. Even though Bones was a doctor, Jim had a hard time leaving when he had to go to class. Or eat. Or shower. Or any other time he had to leave Rosie alone. Technically, she wasn't ever really alone; Jim never left her side unless Bones was with her. But it still made him anxious.

When the day of her twenty-third birthday finally did arrive, there were no visible traces of the explosion on her anymore. It was still early in the morning when she felt Jim nudging her, careful of her still-sore shoulder. "Rosie," he whispered near her ear, "wake up."

She rolled over on the bed and was greeted by the sight of Jim Kirk looking rather flustered. He was sitting on the edge of the bed alongside her, his hair sticking up every which way, his uniform rumpled. "Happy birthday!" he grinned merrily. "I made you a cupcake."

He held out the aforementioned cupcake. It was perfectly baked, golden yellow cake with a swirl of blue frosting on top. Jim had even gone so far as to stick a candle in it. Rosie glanced at it for another moment, before saying, "You got that out of a replicator, didn't you."

He grinned sheepishly as he pulled out a lighter and lit the candle. "Well," he explained as the candle glowed, "I tried to bake you a cupcake. This was plan B when the baking didn't go so well." She laughed, her smile lighting up the room. She thought for a moment before blowing out the candle. "Just don't go into your kitchen."

"Seriously, Jim?!" she groaned, flopping on her back and draping her arm across her eyes.

"I'll clean it up! I swear!"

XXXX

The day went by quickly for a Friday. Rosie had some projects to check on while Jim had class. She was still anxious about being in the laboratory, but she got it done and hustled her way back to her living quarters. When she got there however, she was surprised to find herself alone for once. No Bones. No Jim. Her living quarters were completely empty, aside from herself.

That didn't last long though. The door chimed to tell her someone was there. She headed for it, but it opened before she could reach it, and Jim walked in. "Why're you still in uniform?" he asked, standing just inside the doorway. "Go put on jeans or something."

"What're you talking about? Why?"

"Go change!" Jim ordered, his face alight with mischief. She left the room for a few minutes and came back, dressed in jeans and a tshirt, as Jim had suggested. "Good," he smiled as he looked her over. "Now, let's go!"

"Where?"

"Bones is waiting for us," he lead her, linking his arm with her. "It's Friday night. It's your birthday. You're all healed up. We're going to celebrate."

"What?!" She tried to struggle out of his grasp to no avail. "We can't! There's too much work to do. You're scheduled to take the Kobayashi Maru on Sunday! I need to check the program a few more time. I need to install it. I need…"

"Stop worrying," he chastised her as he dragged her along. "I've got the installation of the program covered. Everything will be fine."

XXXX

Jim and Bones took her to a bar. She wasn't exactly comfortable, but she was trying to roll with it. The bar was loud with blaring music and packed with the hot and sweaty bodies of cadets, all out "celebrating" the weekend.

Jim ordered a round of drinks for the trio, but when he turned to shout something to Bones, she leaned over and whispered to the bartender, "No alcohol in mine, please. Just the Coke." He understood, winking at her, and hurried off to prepare the drinks.

All in all, the night seemed to be going well. Jim was obviously a little tipsy, blurting out random and strange things at times, wobbling when he took Rosie to dance. Bones was being a cranky old man as usual, sitting at a table, sipping his whiskey. He was currently grouching about all the people, "There's too many goddamn people here. Probably a fire hazard. Probably a handful of them will be in Medical with alcohol poisoning soon."

"Stop being so grumpy," Rosie poked the older man in the stomach. "I didn't particularly want to be here either," she confided as Jim was wandering back from the bar, another drink in hand.

"Seriously, Jim?" Bones started complaining to him as soon as he sat back down. "Rosie doesn't want to be here, and you make her?"

"Iz her birtday," Jim mumbled. "Have to cele…brate."

"I think you've done enough celebratin' for all three of us," Bones finished off his drink and moved to try to get Jim up. "Let's go."

However, Bones was shoved out of the way by the girl Jim had been sleeping with the day of the explosion. "Jim," she shouted over the music, "why're you avoiding me?"

"I'm not…avoiding you…Ja…Janine."

"It's Janice!" she shrieked. "You can't even remember my name! I thought you loved me!" It just so happened as she shrieked out that sentence a burly man who was even drunker than Jim wandered up behind her.

"I knew you was messin' around on me!" he snarled. The woman, Janice, tried to backpedal but it was already too late.

"Hey man," Jim tried, holding is hands up, "she never said she had a boyfriend." But it didn't matter; the man hauled Jim up by the front of his shirt and punched him square in the face.

XXXX

It had taken some effort, but Rosie and Bones had managed to get Jim back to his and Bones' shared living quarters. The man had only managed to land one punch before a handful of bar patrons jumped on him and got the situation under control. Bones had checked Jim over for broken bones or a concussion, but the only thing wrong with him was currently a bloody nose.

Bones had stormed off to take a shower, grumbling about Jim's antics, while Rosie was sitting next to him on the bed. She was pinching his nose shut in an attempt to stop the bleeding, while using a wet rag to try and wipe some of the drying blood off his face with her other hand. "Why do you have to be such a dumbass?" she sighed.

"Di…d you have a good birtday?" Jim tried to talk around the rag Rosie was gently rubbing across his upper lip.

"Mostly," she smiled gently at him. She released his nose, and after double-checking it, announced, "I think your nose is done bleeding. Why don't you lie down, and I'll go wash off my hands." He mumbled some sort of agreement while she headed to the kitchen to wash her hands and ring out the rag.

When she came back from the kitchen, Jim was completely passed out. She moved over to him, pulled the blankets up, tucking him in, and placed a soft kiss on his temple, before heading back to her own living quarters.

XXXX

"I'm going to take the test again," Jim confided in Bones, finally, as he was walking down the steps that led to the academy. "Rosie's going to observe. Although I wish she'd come into the test with me. Can you be there, too?"

"I've got better things to do. I'm a doctor, Jim. I'm busy," Bones replied, annoyed that Jim had this crazy obsession with the test. "Rosie's going to be so annoyed with you."

"Nah, she won't be," Jim laughed at that one. "Doesn't it bother you that no one's ever passed the test?"

"Jim, it's the Kobayashi Maru. No one passes the test. And no one goes back for seconds, let alone thirds," he growled in Jim's face.

"See you later Bones," Jim smirked as he started to walk off. "I've gotta go study."

"Study my ass."

XXXX

"Jim," the green girl beneath him breathed, "I think I love you."

Jim stopped, frozen. The Orion girl that he'd been sleeping with for the past few weeks was the girl who was going to install his and Rosie's program into the Kobayashi Maru. He knew he was using her. He'd been having a hard enough time forcing himself to sleep with her, but her uttering that phrase put the brakes on completely for a variety of reasons. He knew Rosie would kill him if she found out. And he couldn't keep going on with it. Thankfully, he didn't have to, as the girl's roommate entered the room. She freaked out, stuffing Jim underneath her bed.

The two made small talk for a while, and Jim soon realized who the roommate was. Uhura. Another girl he'd flirted with in the past. The only one beside Rosie who'd shown no interest in him. _But she doesn't even compare to Rosie_, Jim thought to himself under the bed.

"So…you're not going back to the lab?" Gaila, the Orion, asked.

"Who is he?" When Gaila tried to feign innocence, Uhura continued, "The guy underneath your bed."

"Big day tomorrow," Jim blurted out as he scurried out from under the bed and scrambled to pick up his clothes.

"You're going to fail!" Uhura yelled after him as she hurriedly ushered him out of the door, still in his underwear, and shut it in his face.

XXXX

After taking the walk of shame and finding somewhere to put his clothes on, Jim managed to get himself back to his and Bones' living quarters without further embarrassment. Bones was inside studying on his PADD. "How did studyin' go?"

"Ugh," Jim grunted as he flopped down in a chair across from the doctor. "Terrible."

"She tell you she loves you?" Jim placed his face in his hands and nodded. "You know, Jim…" Bones got ready to give him another lecture, his eyes still not leaving his PADD.

"I know, I know already," Jim grumbled as he lifted his head up to look at his friend. "It was horrible. I just kept thinking about Rosie." Jim sat back and remained silent for a few moments as he contemplated things. "I think I'm in love with her."

That got the doctor's attention. He looked up sharply and almost dropped the PADD. "What?"

"I'm in love with Rosie."

**XXXX**

**A/N: Thank you so much for the wonderful reviews and follows/favorites! Hope everyone enjoyed this new chapter. **


	6. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Only Rosie belongs to me.**

**XXXX**

"What?" Bones was momentarily stunned, certain he hadn't heard what he thought he heard.

"I'm in love with Rosie," Jim blurted out, as surprised as Bones was that he was even admitting it to himself.

Bones chuckled to himself after he regained his composure. "Who'd have thunk the quiet little girl who snubbed you when you first met her would be the woman to tame the great James Kirk."

"I would fall in love with the one girl I can't have."

"What?" Bones was starting to feel like a broken record.

"She's my best friend." When the doctor glared at him, Jim added, "Well, besides you. She's been through so much in her life. I can't even think about trying to start some sort of a deeper relationship with her...I'll just hurt her."

"Jim, you can't know that for sure," Bones tried to talk him out of the craziest idea Jim had ever voiced.

Jim wasn't having any of it, however. "Night, Bones," he cut the doctor off as he stood up from his chair. "Big day tomorrow." And with that, he headed off to bed, leaving his friend shaking his head at him.

XXXX

"Morning!" Rosie chirped brightly as she met Jim outside test room for his third attempt at the Kobayashi Maru. "You ready for today?"

Jim gave her a lopsided grin, "Of course. I'm definitely going to beat it this time."

Rosie laughed. "I'm going to go up to the observation room now." She reached over and hugged him, whispering in his ear, "Good luck. Not that you need it." And then she left.

With her gone, Jim was back to waiting anxiously. He paced back and forth in front of the door for a few minutes before the girl he was really waiting for showed up. "Hey, Gaila!" He put on his best attempt at a suggestive smile.

"Jim!" Her eyes lit up when she saw him. "Good luck on the test!"

"I left you a message on the console up there," he inclined his head towards the observation room. "Make sure you open it at 3 o'clock."

"Oh, Jim," she giggled, clearly enthralled.

"Don't forget. 3 o'clock."

"I won't," she assured him as she pulled him in a for a kiss. Jim let her for a moment before pulling away. She grinned like a schoolgirl before hurrying her way up to the observation room.

Jim shuddered, wiping his mouth off, and walked into the test.

XXXX

The Klingon ships had appeared again in the simulation. "Alert Medical to receive all of the stranded crew members," Jim ordered.

"And how do you expect us to do that," Uhura, who was part of the simulation this time, snarled sarcastically at him, "when we're surrounded by Klingons?"

He swirled the chair around to look at her, "Alert Medical."

XXXX

Up in the observation room, Rosie was rolling her eyes at Jim. He doesn't have to be so freaking blatant about it, she thought to herself. It would be so much more effective if he was at least acting like he didn't know.

Behind her, Gaila was opening Jim's message on her console. She tapped on his name, and it popped up. It only contained one word, Sorry. And his and Rosie's program automatically started downloading into the Kobayashi Maru.

XXXX

Bones was getting really angry at Jim's nonchalant attitude. He was flippantly throwing orders around like the Klingon Birds of Prey surrounding them didn't matter. He was getting ready to snarl something at him again when the simulation seemed to shut down. The screens went black for a few moments before powering back up. "The Klingon shields still up?" Jim asked him.

Bones typed a few keystrokes into his console. "No," he answered, astonished.

Jim smirked. "Transport the survivors from the ship and then fire on the Klingons. One torpedo per ship should do."

"Yes sir," the random person at the console opposite of Bones was smirking as well.

"So," Jim started as stood up from his chair and began walking around the room, "we managed to successfully rescue all the survivors from the Kobayashi Maru and destroy the Klingon ships." He stopped in the middle of the room and glanced up into the observation deck, biting into an apple.

XXXX

Rosie was ecstatic. So ecstatic, it was getting hard to hide her grin. After a moment of silence in the observation room, one of the graders piped up, "How did that kid manage to beat your test?"

Everyone turned to look at the man in the center of the room. "I have no idea," the black haired Vulcan, Spock, replied.

XXXX

Rosie, Jim, and Bones had celebrated Jim's success during lunch. Bones, however skeptical he was, was amused at the turn of events. The trio had gone their separate ways for classes afterwards, and once alone, Rosie's excitement was quickly destroyed once she heard the rumors swirling.

"Commander!" she shouted down the hall after the pointy-eared male she was running to catch up to. "Commander Spock!" He stopped and waited for her to catch up. It took her a few moments to catch her breath.

"Yes?" he inclined his head, waiting for her to continue.

"Is it true?" she wheezed. When he just raised an inquisitorial eyebrow at her, she further clarified, "Are you accusing Jim Kirk of academic misconduct?"

"Yes," the Vulcan replied cooly. "He obviously installed some sort of program that altered the conditions of the test he just took."

As he turned to leave, Rosie blurted out, "Wait! I created the program!" When he stopped and looked her over, she continued, "It was me. I suggested it. I analyzed your program. I created the override program."

"That is..." he seemed to be looking for the correct word to use, "very valiant of you. Trying to take the blame. However, you did not install the program. Therefore you are not culpable."

_I've got the installation of the program covered_, Jim's words echoed in Rosie's head. "How do you know I didn't install the program?"

"A woman has come forward indicating Cadet Kirk coerced her into installing the program." And with that, the Vulcan walked away from her.

"Goddamn it, Jim!" she shouted to no one, once Commander Spock was out of earshot.

**XXXX**

**A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed! Sorry this chapter's a little shorter than the previous couple. **


	7. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I only own Rosie.**

**XXXX**

After her encounter with Commander Spock, Rosie had taken just a moment to think before rushing off to the next person she could confess to in the hopes of halting the disciplinary action against Jim before it could go any farther. Her efforts proved to be futile however. Every person seemed to be in agreement with Spock, that although she designed and created the majority of the override program, Jim was the person who went ahead and installed it, so he was the one at fault. Rosie however, was getting the feeling that this had more to do with the fact that pinning it on Jim, a cadet, would go over much easier and look better than accusing a seasoned Starfleet researcher, even if she was the one confessing.

When she finally was certain that implicating herself wouldn't work, she began desperately trying to find Jim. That proved to be just as big of a challenge. She searched everywhere she could think of, from his living quarters to the library, even Medical, but he was nowhere to be found. _Probably out sleeping with another random girl as celebration_, she thought to herself, shaking her head. She had no choice but to give up looking for him when all of the cadets were summoned to the auditorium for the impromptu meeting. She sighed, running a hand over her face, and began following the throng of cadets in the correct direction.

Once she entered the auditorium, she stayed standing towards the back of the room and began scanning the crowd while all the other cadets sat. It took a few minutes, but she finally spotted Jim, sitting next to Bones, towards the front of the room. She was about to go down the stairs to him, but Commander Spock caught her eye from the other side of the room, and his stoic facial expression somehow managed to exude so much disapproval, it rooted her to her spot.

XXXX

"Cadet Kirk," the man leading the disciplinary council called Jim out in front of all of the assembled people, "evidence has been submitted to this council suggesting that you have violated the ethical code of conduct as stated in Starfleet regulation." Jim looked around somewhat confusedly as he climbed out of his chair and headed towards one of the podiums at the front of the auditorium. He managed to spot Rosie in the back, his eyes searching her for some sort of answer.

_Sorry_, she mouthed to him, shrugging her shoulders, as if to say she tried.

"Is there anything you have to say for yourself?" the man continued on once Jim had reached the podium.

Jim took a few moments to think before responding, "I believe I have the right to face my accuser?"

Behind him, Spock stood up and tugged his uniform top down. The Vulcan calmly walked himself down the stairs and stood next at the podium across from Jim. "This is Commander Spock," the man leading the council introduced the man. "He's programmed the Kobayashi Maru for the past four years."

The pointy-eared man gave Jim a once over before he began speaking, "Cadet Kirk, it has come to our attention that you managed to install and activate a subroutine program that changed the conditions of the test."

"Your point?"

"You cheated," the council leader stated simply.

"And your proof?" Jim spat at the commander defiantly.

"A woman has implicated that you coerced her into installing and activating the program for you." Jim kept his best poker face on, in an attempt to give nothing away. "Another has come forward indicating she helped you create the program, but we have dismissed her claims." Spock glared at Jim, daring him to admit he worked with Rosie.

Instead, Jim took a different route, "The test itself is a cheat, isn't it? It's unwinnable."

"Your argument precludes the possibility of a no-win scenario."

"I don't believe in no-win scenarios."

"Then you also failed to learn the principle lesson of the exam, as well as violating the rules."

Jim looked ready to argue back, when a man interrupted. "Excuse me, sir," he muttered as he walked across the front of the auditorium to hand a PADD to the man that was leading the disciplinary action council.

A moment passed as the man read the information, concern flashing across his features before he announced, "We have received a distress call from Vulcan." Rosie noticed Spock's body tense up, almost imperceptibly. "With our main fleet engaged in the Laurentian system, I hereby order all cadets to hangar one immediately. Dismissed." He stood up and quickly exited the room.

As everybody else was filing out of the room, Rosie and Bones made their way down to Jim. "Who was that pointy-eared bastard?" Jim asked them both.

"I don't know," Bones said as he watched the Vulcan leave the room. "But I like him."

"Come on," Rosie told Jim, tugging his arm. "I'll explain on the way to the hangar."

XXXX

The trio walked at a brisk pace through the halls of Starfleet. "Commander Spock," she told Jim and Bones, "the Vulcan I told you about. The one who programmed the Kobayashi Maru, as the council also told you today."

"So?" Jim shrugged.

"So?" Rosie was so enraged that she stopped walking. "So? I told you he wasn't an idiot!" Her voice jumped up in pitch and volume. "You're so stupid sometimes, Jim! So stupid!"

"I agree with that," Bones piped in, not really helping to calm Rosie's growing anger.

"How am I stupid?"

"You slept with some twit and tricked her into installing the program, didn't you." It was more of a statement than a question.

"No," Jim tried to play it off as if it never could have happened. "No, I would never…"

"Yes, you would, Jim." If looks could kill, Rosie would've killed him a hundred times over by now. "Don't you dare lie to me."

Jim knew he was in big trouble. Defeated, he admitted it, "You're right."

"You're so stupid!" she shrieked again. "How could you? I _told_ you I wanted to install it! Did you not stop to think I knew how to make it untraceable? Did the girl you had install it know how to do that? Did you think she wouldn't rat you out when she found out what you did? If you had let me, we wouldn't be in this situation!"

"Rosie," he tried to find something, anything to say, but nothing came to mind. He reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder, trying to find the words to apologize with for his biggest screw-up yet.

She shrugged his hand off of her and began walking again. "Let's just get to hangar one," she said quietly, all the fight gone from her voice.

Jim looked to Bones for some kind of answer on what he was supposed to do. "Sorry, man," the doctor told him. "Can't get you out of this one." And he started following Rosie down the hall.

Jim stood for a few moments, watching the pair walk away from them. When they were far enough away, he let out a growl and swung his arm. When his fist made contact with the stone wall, the pain that surged up his arm shattered all of his frustration. He stood there for a few moments, staring at his throbbing hand, before shaking his head and jogging down the hall and around the corner to catch up with his friends.

**XXXX**

**A/N: Sorry for not updating yesterday! It was a busy day (had to meet with the DJ for my wedding!). Also, just fyi for any of the returning readers, a reviewer gave me some good constructive criticism the other day, so I updated the prologue to try to make Rosie's personality a little bit clearer. I'd encourage everybody to go back and reread it :)**


	8. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own anybody or anything except Rosie.**

**XXXX**

In the hangar, the cadets were being assigned and dispersed to their ships. Since she wasn't a cadet, Rosie already knew what ship she served on and was away checking on a few things while Bones and Jim waited to hear their assignments. The officer in charge of the listed droned on and on, listing name after name. However, Jim was quite miffed when he realized the man had finally stopped, and he had no assignment.

"He didn't call my name," he growled to the doctor. Before Bones could respond however, Jim stormed off after the man giving assignments.

"What's going on?" Rosie asked, having just rejoined the pair as Jim stalked off. "Where's he going?"

"They didn't assign him a ship," Bones told her, as quietly as he could manage with all the background noise from the shuttlecrafts powering up and taking off. "He's none too happy about it."

"Oh no," Rosie let out a sigh as she pulled her blonde hair back and twisted it into a ponytail. "I didn't think they'd ground him so fast."

"Ground him?"

"Clearly he's on academic suspension because of the Kobayashi Maru incident. I just didn't think they're get the paperwork processed so quickly to keep him here now. I tried to tell them it was mostly me to get Jim off the hook, but they just didn't seem to care."

"Goddamn it," was all the doctor could manage as a response.

XXXX

"Commander!" Jim shouted as he chased after the man. "Commander, you didn't call my name for a ship! Kirk, James T," he stated his name for prosperity, annoyed that the man clearly missed him somehow.

"Kirk, you're on academic suspension," the man turned and said snidely to Jim. "That means you're grounded. At least until the Academy Board decides on your disciplinary charges, if not longer." The man smirked as what he thought was clearly a witty response before walking off.

Rosie and Bones appeared at his side, catching the last few words from the officer. "Jim," Bones was sympathetic to his friend and tried to assure him, "I'm sure the board will rule in your favor. Most likely. Ouch!" Rosie punched him in the shoulder.

"'Most likely' isn't helpful," she grumbled while glaring at the doctor. "I tried, Jim. I really tried to talk them out of it. I tried to find you to warn you when I couldn't."

"Jim, we've gotta go," Bones broke the silence after a few moments when Jim didn't respond.

"Yeah," he said suddenly, startling them. "You guys go. Be safe." He patted Bones on the arm, and leaned over and hugged Rosie. "Be safe," he told her again, whispering in her ear. "Make sure she doesn't get into any trouble," he told Bones, his blue eyes lacking their usual mirth.

Rosie smiled sadly at her friend as she and the doctor turned and began heading towards their shuttlecraft. It took a few moments, but a plan came to Bones. "Rosie," he stopped walking, grabbing onto her arm and stopping her as well, "you're on the Enterprise too, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Go ahead to the shuttlecraft. I'll meet you there or catch the next one if it's full," and he turned around and started walking back towards Jim.

"Where are you going?" she shouted after him.

"I've got an idea!" he shouted back to her over his shoulder.

XXXX

Jim felt a hand grab onto his upper arm tightly. "Come with me," Bones growled in his ear. He went without question. At least for a few moments.

"Bones, where are we going? Where's Rosie?"

"She's on her shuttlecraft. You'll see where we're going. Stop askin' questions."

"What are you doing?" Jim shouted after him, frustrated and annoyed as Bones lead him into a tiny room filled with tons of medical articles. Vials of unidentified, multicolored liquids lined the walls.

"I'm doing you a favor," the doctor grumbled as he quickly scanned the multitudes of vials. "I couldn't just leave you there looking all pathetic." Quickly, before Jim could react, Bones stabbed a hypospray into Jim's neck.

"Ow!" he shouted, twisting his body away from his friend. "What the hell was that?"

"Vaccine," Bones replied nonchalantly, putting the hypospray back down, "for Melvaran mud fleas.

"Why the hell would you do that? We're not even going there."

"To give you the symptoms. You're gonna start to lose vision in your left eye."

"Yeah...and a monster headache too. You call this a favor?" Jim was continuously blinking now, trying to get the vision to come back to his left eye, while trying to keep the bright lights out of his functioning right eye in an attempt to ease the headache.

"Yeah, you owe me," the doctor muttered as he dragged Jim towards a shuttlecraft. "And you owe Rosie too. Big time. She tried to take all the blame for the Kobayashi Maru incident for you. I'm gettin' you on board so you can make sure she stays out of trouble. At least inconspicuously."

XXXX

"He's not cleared for duty," the man guarding the shuttlecraft's door tried to stop Jim and Bones.

"Medical code states the treatment and transport of a patient is to be determined at the discretion of his or her doctor, and in this case, that's me," Bones snarled at the man. He was having a hard time keeping Jim upright, the vaccine making him wobbly. "Clearly he's suffering from an illness as well as," Bones hoisted up Jim's busted hand that he'd use to punch the wall which caused Jim to let out a yelp of pain while the doctor continued, "a broken hand. So I'm taking him with me. Or do you want to be the one to explain why the _Enterprise_ warped into a crisis situation without one of it's senior medical officers."

"As you were," the man was clearly now very intimidated by Bones.

"Come on," Bones stormed past the man, dragging Jim along with him into the shuttlecraft. He stuffed Jim down into the aisle seat, and climbed over him into the window seat. Jim was starting to get uncontrollable shivers and couldn't manage to get the safety harness clipped, so Bones had to help him. When he got the straps clasped shut, Bones noticed a few cadets staring at Jim warily. "Flu," he told them. "Allergic to the vaccine for it."

"You suck at favors," Jim told him from between chattering teeth.

XXXX

As the shuttlecraft took off, Jim was feeling sicker and sicker. _I'm going to kill him_, Jim thought to himself, glad Rosie had been on a different shuttlecraft so she couldn't see him in his current state. Bones was staring out the shuttlecraft's window, finally over his terror of flying, when Jim grumbled, "I might throw up on you."

"Jim," the doctor never even looked over at him as he backhanded Jim in the arm to get his attention, "you're gotta look at this."

Jim was annoyed and nauseous so he attempted to ignore Bones at first, but finally gave in and leaned over to glance out the window when the doctor wouldn't let up his insisting that Jim look.

There, out that window, Jim and Bones got their first look at the USS Enterprise, her pale gray hull illuminated from the lights of the space dock against the black backdrop of space.

"Wow," Jim managed to mutter, just before he passed out.

**XXXX**

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed :)**


	9. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I only own Rosie.**

**XXXX**

Rosie, still in the dark about Jim being on the ship, had finished her safety checks of the ship's main engineering equipment and was currently standing at her designated console on the bridge. Knowing she had the time, she was checking the functionality of a few more non-standard systems from the screen there. However, her actions were interrupted by Captain Pike. "Moure," he called over to her from his chair in the center of the bridge, "go wait for me in the ready room. I'll be there shortly. I want to talk to you."

"Yes, Captain," she felt her face heat up with some embarrassment at being singled out like that in front of the rest of the bridge. She closed down the windows that were displaying the engineering systems and quietly made her way over to the ready room. Alone, she paced back and forth through the room for a few minutes.

Then Captain Pike entered, shutting the door behind him, segregating himself and Rosie away from the rest of the bridge. "This is all classified," was all he said in a stern voice.

"Of course."

He clasped his hands behind his back and walked over to the view screen that was displaying the space dock, just outside the ship. He was quiet for a few moments. "This is the starship," he began in a hushed tone and looked over at her. "The one you have the classified project installed on." He phrased it as a statement, but he was looking for her to respond.

"It is, Sir." Rosie knew exactly what he'd been implying. "I wouldn't be serving on the _Enterprise_ if it wasn't installed on her. It would be somewhat silly for it to be on a ship without me, since I'm the only person who can use it."

Pike nodded, content with her answer. He remained quiet again for a few more moments, processing information. "And no one is aware of it, correct?"

"No," she answered honestly. Pike was asking about the classified project she'd worked on when she was seventeen. It had been considered a failure and forgotten about after only she and her ex were the only two who'd been able to use it. "Starfleet was aware the prototype was built, but not that I installed it myself while the _Enterprise_ was being built. The only people that know it's here are you, me, and Commander Lukas." Rosie winced, having to say the name out loud. "Although I guess since Lukas doesn't exist any more according to Starfleet records, only you and I know."

Pike looked sympathetic. "I wish I could tell you what happened to him," he placed a hand gently on her shoulder. "I wish I knew. It bothers me too that he just vanished like that. I know you guys were close." Rosie nodded silently. Pike hadn't known the extent of her and Lukas' relationship, only that they'd been friends. "Also, I'd like to thank you."

Rosie's head jerked up, searching the captain's face for some sort of reason for that. "What are you talking about?"

"For speaking up about the Kobayashi Maru incident. For trying to clear Kirk's name." The older man laughed a little when Rosie seemed even more shocked. "What, you think I didn't know about that? Everyone does."

"Oh. Well," she shrugged, "it didn't seem to matter. No one cared."

"I care," Pike told her. "And I appreciate it. It was really honorable of you. Not many people would go straight to Starfleet and say it was their fault. When I recruited Kirk three years ago, I thought maybe he'd change being at the academy. But he hasn't changed one bit."

"No, no he hasn't," Rosie agreed with him.

"Guess I should've figured he wouldn't change. Recruiting you didn't change you much either." Rosie remembered the day Pike had shown up on her and her mother's doorstep. The day her mother had been fleeing from for Rosie's entire life. The day her life changed forever. "He's brilliant, he truly is," Pike continued on, "But arrogant. Impulsive. He's made more enemies than friends at Starfleet. That's for sure." Pike nodded towards the information access screen on the wall. "It's all documented. They've been looking for a reason to throw him out since he arrived. Anyway," Pike began walking towards the door back to the bridge. "Take as much time as you'd like in here. We're not leaving dock for at least another twenty minutes." He was smirking, trying to tell Rosie something without telling her. He walked out the door, but stopped, turning back around. "Oh, Moure," he called to her from the doorway, "I'm glad that you've found a friend in him. It's nice to see you smile again. It's been too long." And before she could reply, he turned away, the doors to the ready room sliding shut behind him.

It only took a few moments of Pike being gone before Rosie dashed over to the access screen. She hit a few buttons, swiped a window, and she was in a file on Jim, looking at the documentation Pike was talking about. _Arrogant. Egotistical. Insubordinate. _ The documents in the file went on and on, depicting Jim as a horrible person intent on destroying everything Starfleet stood for. "No wonder they didn't care that I created the program," Rosie mumbled aloud to herself as she continued to scan the file on Jim and his behavior.

It didn't take long for her to make up her mind. If they weren't going to treat him fairly, she wasn't going to let them have any leverage. She knew the system used to document things about cadets quite well, having helped develop the most up-to-date version of it that was currently in use, and with a few taps of her fingers, the worst of the information stored about Jim was gone from the database forever.

Yes, she knew Jim was an arrogant, idiotic jerk sometimes. _Most of the time, actually_, she thought to herself. But she knew him well enough to know that it came from his intelligence, his inquisitiveness. That was what compelled him to be that way. She knew Jim was great, and now she knew Pike believed in him too. There had to be a way to show people Jim was much more than the façade he threw up around himself most of the time.

Rosie cleared the screen and hurried back out to her post. Pike gave her a knowing smile as she reentered the bridge. She passed Spock as she was heading back to her console, and she could've sworn he glared at her as she went by.

XXXX

Rosie had triple checked all of the engineering systems she wanted by the time the _Enterprise _was ready to leave space dock. She watched the view screen in front of her, entranced as it showed the space dock slowly slipping from view, the black of space and its small specks of stars taking its place, as the huge starship turned in the direction of Vulcan.

"The fleet's cleared space dock, Captain," the Asian man at the helm announced. Rosie could see the rest of the fleet in the view screen, in front of the _Enterprise_, all poised to take off at warp speed.

"Set course for Vulcan," Pike replied, turning his seat around to face the view screen now.

"Aye, Sir." He tapped a few buttons. "Course laid in."

"Maximum warp. Punch it."

The man pushed the silver lever forward. Rosie watched anxiously as all the ships around them catapulted into warp, vanishing in the blink of an eye. But the _Enterprise_ remained stationary. Everyone on the bridge glanced over accusingly at the young helmsman. Rosie looked at the readings on her screen, determining the problem in just a moment, but decided to remain quiet. He was young, clearly still a cadet, and he deserved a few moments to figure it out for himself.

"Where's helmsman McKenna?" Captain Pike asked, clearly annoyed.

"He has lungworm, Sir. I'm Hikaru Sulu."

"You are a pilot, right?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then why aren't we moving, Sulu? Is the parking break on or something?"

"Ah," Sulu laughed nervously, "no, Sir. I'm not sure what the problem is." He muttered on as he looked around the console for some sort of answer. "I'll figure it out."

"Have you disengaged the external initial dampener?" Spock butted into the conversation. _Jerk_, Rosie thought to herself as she rolled her eyes. _He could've given him a minute to think_.

Sulu didn't reply to that, simply tapping a few more buttons on the helm. After that, he announced, "Ready for warp, Sir."

Pike smiled, ready to get underway. "Let's punch it," he repeated the phrase.

This time, when Sulu pressed forward on the lever, the space ahead of them seemed to stretch and twist as the _Enterprise_ took off at maximum warp.

**XXXX**

**A/N: Thank you all for reading! Hope you enjoyed the new chapter :)**


	10. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I only own Rosie.**

**XXXX**

Bones had had quite a difficult time lugging Jim's unconscious body to the medical bay of the _Enterprise_. It had been made even more difficult by the fact that Spock had crossed his path quiet a few times, and he'd had to go the long way around to avoid the Vulcan seeing Jim aboard. He'd even managed to get Jim out of his cadet uniform into some plain black clothing.

Currently, Jim was still passed out, lying motionless on a cot in medical bay. They were en route to Vulcan, and Bones, now wearing his standard medical uniform, was busily checking machines to make sure everything was functioning properly in the event that he or someone else needed to use it. He was actually just about to go back and check on Jim when a male voice with a thick Russian accent came over the intercom, "May I have your attention please. At 2200 hours, telemetry detected an anomaly in the Neutral Zone, which appeared like a lightning storm in space." The voice continued on to explain the distress call from Vulcan, their estimated arrival time, as well as a bare bones explanation of what the fleet was going to attempt to do.

Before Bones could get across the room to check on Jim, he leapt up in the cot. "Lightning storm in space," he mumbled, repeating what the Russian voice had said while looking slightly frantic.

"Jim," Bones managed to get over to him before he climbed off the cot and placed a hand on his shoulder to stop his movement. "Good, you're awake. Are you feeling okay? Good God…"

Bones trailed off. He was glancing at Jim's hands. Jim looked down and let out a yelp, "What the hell's this? I thought only my right hand was broken!" Jim's hands were swollen and red, three times the size they normally were. Jim could feel them throbbing and the heat radiating off of them on his face as he twisted them around in the air in front of him, scrutinizing them.

"It was!" Bones yelled back, hurrying over to the other side of the medical bay to grab a hypospray. "It's a reaction to the vaccine. Goddamn it, Jim, why do you have to be allergic to everything!"

While Bones was preparing the hypospray of cortisone to counteract Jim's reaction, Jim leapt off the bed and began poking at the screen that had been broadcasting the announcement just moments ago. "Shit," he mumbled as he fumbled around with his ridiculously enlarged fingers, trying to press the buttons. It took a few more tries before he was able to rewind the broadcast enough to hear what he thought he heard again. _A lightning storm in space_. Bones came back, hypospray in one hand, and began running a scanner through the air with the other to see if Jim had any other reactions that were currently not visible to the eye. "We gotta stop the ship," Jim grabbed Bones' head between his inflated hands, halting the impromptu medical exam. And then he burst out of medical bay, running at full speed.

XXXX

Bones was racing after him as fast as he could through the _Enterprise's_ halls, but Jim was roughly six years younger than him, so he managed to keep in front. "Jim!" He shouted after the younger man, while trying to keep his grip on the few medical things he still had in his hands. "Seriously! This is a really bad allergic reaction! You need to keep your heart rate down!"

He managed to catch up when Jim stopped at a console in another hall. He typed into the machine, and it chirped, waiting for his command. "Computer, locate Lieutenant Commander Moure!"

"I haven't see a reaction this bad since med school," Bones babbled on, trying to assemble the hypospray in the middle of the hallway.

The computer told him where she was, and he shouted to Bones as he took off again, "We're flying into a trap. I have to tell someone who will listen to me!"

Bones managed to catch up to him again when he had to stop and wait for a turbolift. "Goddamn it," the doctor growled, finally managing to stab Jim in the neck with the hypospray. "Hold still!"

"Stop it!" Jim yelped again as he barreled into the turbolift, Bones following suit, and waited impatiently for it to go up to the bridge.

XXXX

"Captain!" Jim's voice echoed through the bridge, causing Rosie's head to whip around. "Captain Pike!" Bones was dashing after him, telling him to come back, but Jim wasn't stopping. "We have to stop the ship!" he babbled.

"Jim, what are you doing here?" Rosie blurted out, just as Captain Pike demanded answers.

"Kirk, how did you get aboard the _Enterprise_?" The captain's voice drowned out Rosie's. Most of the bridge crew didn't even notice she'd said anything.

Bones tried to explain, babbling some medical jargon that even Rosie wasn't sure she understood, while Jim kept trying to talk over him. Finally, Bones paused in speaking, and Jim took it as his opportunity, "Vulcan is not experiencing a natural disaster. It's being attacked by Romulans."

"Cadet Kirk is not clear to be aboard this vessel," Spock butted in. "I can have him removed as a stowaway…"

"I'm trying to save us here!" Jim shouted over the Vulcan. "Vulcan is under attack by Romulans."

"Based on what facts?" Spock narrowed his eyes at him.

"The same anomaly, the lightning storm in space, occurred on the day of my birth. Where a Romulan ship appeared out of nowhere and destroyed the_ USS Kelvin_. You know that, Sir," he directed his gaze towards Captain Pike now. "I read your dissertation. That ship had advanced weaponry, but was never seen or heard from again. Plus, there was an attack on the Klingons last night. A Romulan ship. One massive Romulan ship."

"And you heard about this attack on the Klingons how?"

Jim inclined his head towards Uhura, who was on the bridge as well. She looked stunned for a few minutes, but quickly regained her composure when she realized Jim must've heard her talking about it just before she kicked him out of her and Gaila's living quarters. "Sir, Kirk's report is true. I intercepted and translated the message myself."

Before Pike or Spock could interrupt his argument again, he turned, "Rosie." Everyone's eyes on the bridge followed his to her. "Rosie, I know you did extensive research on the anomaly that happened on my birthday. We talked about it a bunch of times. Have you compared that to this one?"

"No," Rosie looked surprised she hadn't thought if it herself. She turned back to her console and her fingers began flying as she typed, "I hadn't thought of it. It all happened so fast. Just give me a minute…" she trailed off, her green eyes scanning the screen. "Oh my gosh," she breathed after a few moments. "You're right, Jim. You're right. They're the same. The analyses match. They look exactly the same."

Jim smiled at her, glad she had his back. "We're warping into a trap, Sir. I promise you that."

Pike looked over to Spock for his opinion. His eyebrows furrowed a bit as he contemplated what he'd just heard before he announced, "The cadet's logic is sound. Lieutenant Uhura is unmatched in xenolinguistics, and Lieutenant Commander Moure is one of the best engineers and researchers Starfleet has seen in years. We would be wise to accept their conclusions." The Vulcan looked like it pained him to admit Jim could be correct.

"Scan the area around Vulcan for Romulan transmissions," Pike told Uhura. She hurried over to her console, and began searching. "Hail the _USS Truman_."

"Sir," the communications crewmember addressed the captain, "All the other ships have arrived at Vulcan, but I can't get a response from any of them."

"And there's no Romulan transmissions or transmissions of any kind," Uhura added after a moment.

"That's because they're being attacked," Jim asserted.

Pike said nothing for a while. Then he walked over to his chair and sat, "Sheilds up. Red alert." Rosie caught Jim's eye again and mouthed, _Good job_ to him. She flashed him a smile before turning back to her console. "You better be right about this, Kirk," Pike grumbled to him in a hushed tone.

"Arrival at Vulcan in five seconds," Sulu announced into the now very tense atmosphere on the bridge. And then he began count down.

**XXXX**

**A/N: Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed :) I really appreciate all the follows/favorites and comments!**


	11. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I only own Rosie.**

**XXXX**

The _Enterprise_ pulled out of warp as soon as it was in orbit around Vulcan, and it was a sight to behold. The space around the orange-hued planet was littered with debris, the debris of the entire fleet that had arrived before them.

Captain Pike immediately began shouting orders in an attempt to maneuver around the majority of the debris and to prevent any of it causing major damage to the starship's hull. Everyone on the bridge hurriedly dashed around to carry out his orders, Sulu's fingers flying across the helm, Spock running analyses, Rosie quickly diverting any extra power to strengthening the sheilds. Jim however, remained completed focused on the view screen, his gaze hard.

It took a few moments of careful angling of the ship to clear the largest bits of debris, and when they did, the other ship came into view. The ship was immense, black against Vulcan's orange surface. Everyone on the bridge froze for a few moments, gawking at the behemoth of a ship, when Spock interrupted the silence, "They're locking torpedos, Captain!"

Pike again begain shouting orders in an attempt to deflect the damage, but to no avail. The torpedoes hit home, blowing out a portion of the hull in the lower section of the ship. The explosion rocked the bridge, knocking Rosie over. Her yelp knocked Jim out of his trance, and he managed to move quickly enough to catch her before she hit the ground. If it were some other moment, he would be excited to have her pressed up against him like she was, but he could only ask, "You okay?"

"Yeah," Rosie answered, rubbing her left elbow. "Just bumped into the console." Jim held onto her gently until she was stable on her feet again. "Thanks for catching me."

"Any time," Jim answered, now a little sad to let her go. He dropped his hand from her waist just as Spock began logically explaining what was going on.

"Captain," Spock said relatively calmly for someone who's planet was currently under attack, "the Romulans have lowered some type of high energy device into the atmosphere. Its signal appears to be what's blocking our communications and transporter abilities."

"It looks like a drill or something," Rosie added, shouting from her console, as she was running engineering analyses of her own.

"Their weapons are powerful, Sir," Sulu started now. "We can't take another hit like that."

Before Pike could offer up another order, Uhura's voice cut through the chaos on the bridge, "Captain, we're being hailed."

A man, Romulan, appeared on the viewscreen without further discussion. He was bald, with black tattoos branching across his forehead and cheeks. "Hello," his deep voice echoed through the bridge in an oddly humourous, sarcastic, tone.

"I'm Captain Christopher Pike. To whom am I speaking?"

"Hi, Christopher," the Romulan addressed Pike by his first name. He inclinded his head to the side as he introduced himself, "I'm Nero."

"You've declared war against the Federation," Pike began the rehearsed lines that had been ingrained in him to say in such a situation. "Withdraw, and I'll arrange a conference with Romulan leadership..."

"I do not speak," the Romulan, Nero, interrupted Pike's speech, "for the Romulan Empire. We stand apart. As does your Vulcan crew member. Isnt that right, Spock."

Every eye on the bridge shifted from the viewscreen for the first time since Nero's face appeared. Spock stood up, calmly answering, "I do not believe we are acquainted."

"Not yet," Nero answered, any sarcasm that was once in his voice replaced with hatred. His gaze bored into Spock as he continued, "There's something I'd like you to see. Captain Pike, as you might have noticed, your transporter capabilities are currently inoperable. You can see you have no real choice in the matter, if the rest of your armada is any indication. You will man a shuttlecraft and board the _Narada_ for negotioations." Nero was done speaking and turned off the viewscreen on his side without another word.

The bridge was silent for a few moments as everybody tried to think of some response. When no one came up with anything, all eyes turned to Captain Pike for direction.

Still he said nothing, standing up and heading for the turbolift.

"He'll kill you. You know that," Jim started.

"Your survival is unlikely," Spock added, almost at the same time as Jim. "You should rethink your strategy."

"Captain, we gain nothing by diplomacy. Going over to that ship is a mistake," Jim tried further to talk Pike out of whatever idea he had in his head.

"I understand that," Pike told both Jim and Spock. "I need officers who've been trained in hand-to-hand combat." Pike clearly ignored Jim and Spock's further protests. "Come with me," he told Sulu when he volunteered. "Kirk, you too. You're not supposed to be here anyway. Moure!" he shouted over to Rosie, "I need you as well."

Rosie nodded, "Yes, Captain," and hurried after the group of men.

XXXX

As they walked through the hall, Pike asked, "Moure, what did you find out about that drill?"

Being much shorter than the four men, Rosie was jogging slightly to keep up. "It's a high-energy pulse device, as Commander Spock already pointed out," she breathed, explaining. "The analyses are showing it's energy output at 1700 degrees Celsius and higher. It looks like they're trying to...drill a hole into the center of Vulcan."

"Why would they want to do that?"

"I have no idea, Sir," Rosie finished off her report with a shrug.

"We can't beam off the ship," Pike moved on, content with her details. "We can't assist Vulcan that way. Mr. Kirk, Mr. Sulu and Engineer Olsen will space-jump from my shuttle. Land on the...drill," Pike used Rosie's word to describe it now, "and disable it. Then beam back to the ship. Mr. Spock, you're in charge of the _Enterprise_."

"You better be careful with her," Rosie piped up, not happy with the Vulcan being in command of the starship. "She's brand new. Starfleet'll kill you if anything happens to her." She glared at him. Spock had no response to that.

Pike let out a small laugh at her animosity before continuing, "When communications are back up, you'll contact Starfleet, and let them know what the hell's going on. If all else fails, fall back and join the rest of the fleet in the Laurentian system. Kirk, I'm promoting you to first officer."

"Captain?" Spock was clearly angered by that new revelation. Rosie clamped a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing at the expression of annoyance on his face. "Please, I apologize. The complexities of human pranks perplex me." Spock tried to find some possible way around the fact that Jim was now his first officer.

"It's not a prank, Spock. Let's go." Jim, Sulu, Olsen, and Rosie scurried into another turbolift after Pike.

XXXX

"What about you, Sir?" Rosie asked in the tubolift down to the hangar.

"Yeah," Jim added, further clarifying Rosie's question. "What happens to you after we disable the drill?"

"Well," Pike answered, having no good answer for it, "I guess you'll just have to come and get me."

XXXX

Pike was in the shuttlecraft already, fiddling with the instrumentation, while the other men were suiting up for their space jump. Sulu and Olsen were somewhere, Rosie wasn't sure where, but she was with Jim, trying to talk to him as quietly as possible, although that was difficult in a hangar. "Jim, you can't be seriously going through with this."

Jim was standing unabashedly in front of her, tugging off his black pants right in the middle of the room. He reached over to grab the blue spacesuit pants that were lying on the table next to her. She glanced away while he was tugging them on over his underwear, hoping it would hide her tears as well as the flush that was crossing her face. "Rosie," he zipped up the pants, "I've got to."

"But there's got to be a better way."

"If there was a better way, you would've thought of it already." He was fully dressed now, the hood of the space suit pulled up, covering his head. He reached over and turned her face towards him, forcing her to look at him. "Hey," he said quietly, rubbing his thumbs across her cheeks to wipe away her tears, "hey. It'll be fine. I'll be back in no time." Rosie nodded, sniffling a bit. "I'll be back soon," he assured her again. His hands still on either side of her face, he pulled her forward and placed a kiss on her forehead before releasing her and ducking into the shuttlecraft without another word.

Rosie watched the shuttlecraft take off and leave the hangar before dashing off to get back to her console on the bridge.

**XXXX**

**A/N: Sorry for not updating for a few days! The past few days have been busy and for some reason, I couldn't login to yesterday at all. Frustrating. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed the new chapter!**


	12. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but Rosie**

**XXXX**

Inside the shuttlecraft, Jim sat between Olsen and Sulu. He was nervous, more so of not being able to keep his promise to come back to Rosie than anything else. In an attempt to keep his mind off what was about to happen, he tried talking. "You've got the charges, right?" he asked Olsen.

"Oh yeah," the man seemed far more enthused than he should be about leaping out of a shuttlecraft to land on small platform thousands of meters below them. "I can't wait to kick some Romulan ass."

Jim nodded in response. Clearly, Olsen was slightly off and was going to do nothing to calm his nerves. So he tried Sulu next, "What kind of combat training do you have?"

Sulu looked over at him, his expression none-to-happy. "Fencing."

"Right," Jim answered and went back to looking straight ahead. "We're going to do this. It'll work," he said to no one in particular. _It has to_, he thought to himself. _I have to get back to Rosie_.

Jim was shaken out of his thoughts however, by Pike's voice. "Pre-jump!" he announced. The three men stood up and pulled on their helmets, prepared for what was to come next. "You guys have one shot at landing on the platform. Just one. They may have defenses on it, so pull your chutes as late as possible," Pike continued informing them. "Remember, the _Enterprise_ won't be able to beam you back until you turn off that drill. Good luck." Jim watched Pike's hand grasp the lever out of the corner of his eye. He pulled it, the floor vanishing beneath Jim and the other two men, and they were instantly free falling.

XXXX

It took Rosie a good amount of time to make it back to the bridge from the hangar, even running. When she burst back onto the bridge, it was just in time to see the three colored dots exit the shuttlecraft-shaped image on Ensign Chekov's tracking screen. "Away team is entering zee atmosphere," he announced to Spock, now acting-captain. "Twenty thousand meters, Sir."

Rosie felt her chest tighten and started to have a difficult time breathing. She knew Bones was currently tending to all the crew members that had been injured when the torpedoes hit, but right now she selfishly wished he could be there next to her, watching the little dot trace Jim's progress through a free fall, because she was definitely afraid she might pass out for the first time in her life.

"Kirk to _Enterprise_," Jim's voice crackled through the bridge. Rosie finally managed to release the breath she'd been holding and leaned against her console for support. Spock's eyes shifted her way, as if to reprimand her for not keeping herself under control better. She ignored him. "Distance to target, 5000 meters," Jim's electronic voice announced.

Jim's announcement of their distance set off a frenzy. It was hard to determine what the distance was now, as Chekov's, Jim's, Sulu's, and Olsen's voices all started announcing the rapidly changing distance at the same time. Rosie blocked them out, keeping her gaze fixed on the little blue dot on the tracking screen. Sulu's dot was the first to slow in its descent, Jim's followed shortly after, indicating the two of them had pulled their parachutes and were no longer in a free fall. Olsen however, didn't.

It was only a few more seconds before Olsen's dot vanished completely off the tracking screen and a collective gasp echoed through the bridge. Uhura had turned away, unable to continue watching, as Chekov announced, "Olsen is…gone, Sir!" Spock said nothing in response. Rosie, however badly she felt that a crewmember's life was lost, couldn't take her eyes off of Jim's tracker. Her hands had come up shortly after he'd pulled his chute and were pressed hard against her mouth, covering up a silent scream.

She felt the tears welling up again, both out of frustration and relief, as she watched Jim's dot touch down on the drill. "Kirk has landed, sir," Chekov announced. It took another few minutes, but Chekov spoke again, "Sulu has landed as well." Indeed, the yellow dot was now down on the drill, not moving.

It was silent now on the bridge; no one dared to breathe or move. It seemed like hours as the silence ticked by, but it was only a few minutes. "The jamming signal's gone!" Uhura shouted as she regained her composure, breaking the silence. She quickly began contacting Starfleet, letting them know what was going on.

"Transporter control reengaged, Sir," Chekov continued.

"Chekov, run gravitation sensors on the planet," Spock ignored the comments about transporter's being functional again. "I want to know what they are doing."

"Why aren't you beaming them back?" Rosie managed to shout at Spock, having finally regained her composure and uncovered her mouth. She wiped the tear streaks off her face before continuing. "They're done. Beam them back up here."

"If the gravitational reports show something, they are already in position…" Spock began, clearly annoyed that she was questioning him.

"Kirk to _Enterprise_," Jim's voice cut in again, cutting off Spock's reasoning. "They just launched something at the planet. Into the hole they drilled."

Alerts began shrieking through the bridge, everyone shouting at once. Rosie's eyes scanned the screens closest to her. "Oh my god," she breathed, realizing what the screens were showing.

"What?" Spock demanded, obviously having heard her. "What is it?"

"Keptain," Chekov spoke up, over the rest of the voices, "the gravitational reports are off the scale. Zhe've created a singularity zat will consume zee planet."

"He's right," Rosie confirmed. Everyone had stopped talking upon hearing Chekov's deduction. "A black hole."

"How long? How long does the planet have?" Spock asked.

"Minutes, Sir," Chekov answered sadly.

"Alert the Vulcan command center to issue a planet-wide evacuation," Spock announced as he all but leapt out of the captain's chair. He bustled off the bridge, Uhura not far behind him, and the pair entered the turbolift together.

With Spock gone, that left Rosie in charge of the bridge. "Get Jim and Sulu back on this ship," she told the transporter operator harshly as she pressed the button to communicate with the transporter room.

"Yes, ma'am," the operator in the transporter room answered Rosie over the comm.

"Kirk to _Enterprise_," Jim's voice came over the communications equipment again, "get us out of here."

"Stand by, Jim," Rosie answered him back. "We're locking on to your signal."

"They're moving!" the operator shouted after a moment. "I can't lock onto them!"

"Kirk to _Enterprise_!" Jim was frantic this time. Rosie's heart just about stopped. "We're falling without a chute! Beam us up!"

"They're moving too fast," the operator announced. "I can't lock on to them!"

"I can do zat!" Chekov announced, leaping up from the console. "I can do zat!" And he ran out of the bridge. Rosie, terrified, dashed after him.

XXXX

Rosie raced after the Russian boy, all the way to the transporter room. "Move move move move move. Give me manual control," he shouted as they burst into the room. He was rapidly tapping and swiping at the transporter screen, somehow managing to remain somewhat calm despite Jim's frantic shouts coming through the communicators.

Suddenly, Jim and Sulu appeared with a loud thunk, hitting the floor of the transporter. Chekov jumped up, shouting what sounded like celebratory words in Russian, as Rosie rushed forward. "Jim!" she threw herself to the ground next to him. "Jim!" Slowly, she helped him roll over, until he was on his side. "Are you okay?"

He looked up at her with his big blue eyes. His face was covered with scrapes and bruises, one of his eyes blackened. He gave her the stupidest grin he could manage and wheezed, "Told you…I'd be back soon!"

"You idiot," she managed to choke out as she began crying again. Jim climbed to his feet and pulled her against him, murmuring reassuring words.

"Clear the transporter pad," Spock burst into the room, spoiling Jim's moment with Rosie.

Jim held onto her and guided her off the transporter as he asked, "Where are you going?"

"I'm beaming to the surface."

"The surface of what?" Jim asked, clearly not thrilled with the idea.

"You can't go down there, Spock," Rosie tried to reason with him through her sniffles. She may not like the Vulcan, but she sure didn't want him to die.

Spock ignored all of her and Jim's protests and transported down to the surface.

XXXX

Jim and Rosie waited in the transporter room. There wasn't much to do now but wait for Spock to announce he was ready to beam back. Rosie was still leaned up against Jim, her crying under control now. It was silent in the room, Chekov still at the transporter control console. Waiting.

It was only a few minutes before Spock's voice echoed over the comm. "Spock to _Enterprise_. Get us out now."

Chekov leapt into action. "Locking on. Don't move. Stay right where you are." All was still for a few minutes while Chekov was counting down the transport. Then, out of nowhere, he shouted, "I'm losing her! I'm losing her!" Neither Jim nor Rosie said anything, when Chekov announced sadly, "I lost her."

Five Vulcans appeared on the transporter pad, fours males and one female. Spock was staring vacantly, stunned to say the least. Rosie had hoped Chekov was wrong about losing whoever he lost, since there was a female amongst the group, but one look at Spock told her that wasn't the case. He was breathing heavy, and once he snapped out of his stupor, he glanced around for a moment and then hurried towards the room's exit.

"Spock," Rosie knew they weren't close, didn't even like each other, but she knew from the look on his face he'd lost someone important to him. "Spock, wait…"

She tried to go after him, but Jim's firm grip on her waist kept her rooted in place. "Let him go," Jim whispered to her, his lips close to hear ear. "He probably needs time to process what happened." Rosie nodded wordlessly and pressed her head into Jim's chest.

**XXXX**

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed! :)**


	13. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I sadly, don't own anything expect for Rosie**

**XXXX**

Jim, Rosie, and the rest of the crew of the _Enterprise_ watched the burnt-orange surface of Vulcan begin to deteriorate from the ship's view screens as they made their retreat. It didn't take long before the entire class M planet vanished entirely, nothing remaining in its place, an empty hole in black space where billions of individuals used to live.

By the time everyone's heads cleared enough to filter the chaos that was going on around them, the Romulan ship, along with Captain Pike, was long gone. And word was beginning to spread; the woman Chekov had lost in transport was Spock's own mother.

Rosie was clinging to Jim with everything she had. In her eight years with Starfleet, she'd never been on a rescue mission, or any other sort of mission, that hadn't gone without a hitch. She was torn between feeling devastated for the loss of such a renowned planet and its people and feeling relieved she had Jim back. Her relief was actually making her feel guilty; guilty that she had what she wanted when so many others would never be able to go home again.

She wasn't sure how long she'd been staring off into nothingness when Jim's moving jostled her out of her thoughts. They were sitting on a cot in sickbay together, Rosie tucked under Jim's arm, her head pressed against his chest. Bones had patched Jim up from the fight Rosie now knew occurred on the drill. "What's wrong?" she asked him as he shifted again.

Jim sighed lightly and tugged at his space suit. He hadn't even changed out of it yet. "Suit's uncomfortable," he mumbled, tugging at the collar, tight around his neck. He slipped out of her grip and stood up. "I'm just going to go change."

"You're coming back, right?" Rosie was still pretty distraught, grabbing for his hand to prevent him from leaving.

"Of course." Jim tucked one of her blonde strands of hair behind her ear, smiling at her. "I'll always come back. Bones!" he grabbed the doctor by his arm as he tried to walk past, "I'm going to go put something more comfortable on. You've been working like a madman. Take a fifteen-minute break and sit with Rosie." Jim said it as a statement, but Leonard saw the pleading in his eyes.

"Yeah," the doctor said after a moment. "Yeah. You go on ahead. I'll be here with her." Jim murmured his thanks and left. Bones sat down next to Rosie, noticing her eyes following Jim's every movement until he was completely out of sight. "You okay, darlin'?" Rosie nodded her head but didn't really seem to be listening to him. "You don't seem okay. Jim's coming right back. Really. He's alive and well. He's much harder to get rid of than most of us would like to admit."

Her lips turned up in a little smile at that one, and Bones knew she was finally paying attention. "He's really something else, isn't he," she said, turning to look at the doctor.

"Pain in the ass is what he is," Bones grumbled, forcing a giggle out of Rosie. "Grows on you though. Got a soft spot for him, just like you do." Her eyebrows shot up in surprise, but before she could say anything, Bones cut her off, "Don't be tryin' to deny it. Everybody knows how you feel about him. It's written all over your face anytime you look at him or someone mentions his name."

"Dumb isn't it," Rosie looked away from her friend sadly. "I've ended up with nobody in the world except for you and him, fallen in love with him, and he's a complete man-whore."

"Oh, darlin'," Bones hadn't been trying to upset her. He felt guilty when he noticed she'd looked away from him to try to hide the fact that she'd started crying again. "It isn't dumb. Hell, he probably feels the same way." _He loves you too_, Bones thought to himself, thinking back on the night before the Kobayashi Maru test. He couldn't outright tell her what Jim had said, that would be violating some ingrained man-code Bones was trying to adhere to, but he sure as hell could try to push them in the right direction. Rosie was quickly mopping up her face, removing any trace of the tears, while she listened to Bones. "He's just…stupid, to use your own word, sometimes. It's just been a crazy couple of days. You should talk to him once everything quiets down."

"Maybe. I don't know."

Any other answer Rosie may have had was cut off as Jim returned. "I'm back," he announced, wearing the black clothes Bones had put him in when he first snuck him onto the _Enterprise_.

"I'm goin' back to work then," Bones announced to no one in particular. Before he got up from the cot, he wrapped his arm around Rosie and gave her a squeeze. "You'll be alright, darlin'. Everything'll work out." And with that, the doctor went back to work.

After her admission to Bones, Rosie wasn't sure she was ready to be alone with Jim, afraid that the conversation she clearly needed to have with him might just be blurted out. So instead of letting him sit back down, she stood, and said, "Do you want to come with me to the bridge? I want to know what we're going to do now."

"Sure," Jim readily agreed, although a little disappointed that the impromptu cuddling that had been previously going on before he changed was now over.

XXXX

Jim was sitting in the captain's chair, listening to the discussion going on in the bridge. Rosie stood next to him. Bones had also joined them after a while. "Are you sure that Nero is heading for Earth?" Spock asked.

"The ship's trajectory suggests no other destination, Captain," Uhura answered him.

"Earth might be his next stop," Jim added his input, "but we have to consider every Federation planet's a target."

"I don't think so," Rosie's brain was ticking away as Spock ordered Jim out of the chair. He got up in a huff. "Nero seemed to be focusing his attentions on Spock. Wanting to show Spock something. He singled him out. Spock's…other lineage…" Rosie continued on with her logic, trying to avoid mentioning the Vulcan's mother directly, "is from Earth. That would be the next place to go to hurt him further."

"Lieutenant Commander Moure's logic makes sense," Spock admitted, wandering through the bridge. "That would explain why they didn't destroy us as well."

"Where did they even get that kind of technology?" Bones started grumbling. "To create a black hole? I didn't even think that way possible."

"The technology may hold the answer," Spock began answering the doctor's questions. "Such technology could theoretically be used to create a tunnel through space-time."

"Goddamn it! I'm a doctor, not a physicist! What the hell does that mean!"

"He's saying they're from the future, Bones," Rosie leaned over and whispered to the doctor.

"Precisely," Spock heard her anyway. "If you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

"We need to chase down that ship," Jim jumped into the discussion now. "Pike knows details of Starfleet's defense. We need to get him back."

"We are technologically outmatched," Spock was clearly not going to be taking any of Jim's suggestions as valid. "It would be completely illogical. You all saw how the last rescue attempt against this ship went."

"Nero would need to drop out of warp for us to overtake him," Chekov tried to give a good reason why Jim's plan wouldn't work, so it didn't seem like Spock was outright rejecting it just because Jim had suggested it.

"Fine," Jim kept thinking and tried again. "Give Rosie an engineering crew to increase our warp yield."

"All crews are currently working on containing radiation leaks and repairing communications equipment in the lower decks that were hit with the torpedoes." Spock had an answer for everything. "We must rendezvous with the rest of the fleet in the Laurentian system as Pike suggested to balance out the next engagement."

"There won't be a next engagement!" Jim shouted, placing himself right in front of the Vulcan. "By then it will be too late."

Spock ignored Jim and moved to sit in the captain's chair. "Mr. Sulu, plot a course for the Laurentian system."

"Spock, you can't do that!" Jim wasn't letting up. "I won't allow you to take us backwards, away from the problem…" Jim was shouting now. Rosie and Bones tried to stop him before he pushed it too far, but to no avail.

Spock stood up, "Security, escort him out." Jim seemed to go quietly for a moment before he started struggling with the security officers. He managed to knock one out with a well-aimed punch, but Spock calmly walked over, pinched the place where Jim's neck and shoulder met, and Jim passed out instantly. "Get him off this ship."

XXXX

The security team had Jim placed in an escape pod, and Spock had ordered the pod launched at Delta Vega. "You can't do that!" Rosie screamed at the Vulcan on the bridge. "You can't! It's in violation of at least six Starfleet regulations!"

"There is a Starfleet outpost base there," Spock answered her nonchalantly, not even looking up from the PADD he was reading off of. "Therefore, it is not against any Starfleet regulations."

"If you don't turn this ship around right now, so help me…" Rosie was ready to punch Spock, even if he was ridiculously stronger than her.

"Ms. Moure," Spock placed the PADD down on the arm of the captain's chair and stood up. He positioned himself right in front of her. "If you do not regain control over yourself and your emotions I will have you confined to your quarters or the brig for insubordination. Whichever you'd prefer."

Rosie couldn't help but laugh at that statement. "Lock me up wherever you'd like, Spock. It won't hold me."

"And why is that?"

"You really don't know, do you," Rosie's laughter subsided into astonishment. "Let me ask you a question." She waited until Spock inclined his head, giving her permission. "All starships have a master override code for locks. Works on all of them."

"There was not a question in that statement," Spock pointed out. When she glared at him, he answered, "Yes. Of course there is. Only the starship's head design and construction engineer knows it, however. One would have to contact that engineer to obtain the code."

"Did you ever think about who the head design and construction engineer of the _Enterprise_ might be?" Spock's face told her he hadn't. "Computer," Rosie said out loud, and the computer beeped in response, ready for a command. "Who is the _Enterprise's_ head design and construction engineer?"

The automated voice answered, "Lieutenant Commander Rosalyn Moure."

When Spock's eyebrows went up even higher, Rosie finished the argument, "So go ahead. Lock me up."

**XXXX**

**A/N: Surprise!...or maybe not. I hope it was kind of a surprise? Hope you all enjoyed!**


	14. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I only own Rosie.**

**XXXX**

Jim's head was aching. That was what made him come to. It took him a few minutes to realize he definitely wasn't on the _Enterprise_ any longer, and after that thought came to him, all the events on the bridge came rushing back.

Sore, tired, and freezing, Jim tapped at the computer screen next to him, "Computer, where am I?" He blew hot air into his hands to warm them up while he waited for a reply.

"Delta Vega. Class M planet. Unsafe," the automated computer voice informed him. "Remain in your pod until Starfleet authorities from the outpost retrieve you."

Jim was pissed off. Ignoring the computer's warnings, he kicked out the door of the pod he was in and began scaling the ice wall in front of him. When he reached the top and looked out, all that was in front of him was barren land, covered in ice. "Shit."

XXXX

Back on the _Enterprise_, Bones had somehow managed to lure Rosie off the bridge and into her living quarters. She was absolutely livid at Spock. "He's completely insane!" she was still shouting to the doctor as the doors to her living quarters shut behind her. "I get that he just lost his mother. I do, but he's totally lost it! He can't just eject Jim from the ship and abandon him on some random planet that we fly by!"

"I'm sure he's got some good reason…" Bones said the first thing that came to mind, but it was clearly the wrong thing.

"There is no good reason for abandoning someone on a random planet!" she shrieked in response. "I can't believe he told me to get my emotions under control. Clearly, he needs to get _his_ under control as well!"

"Okay, okay," Bones tried a different route this time. He didn't really care what he was saying to her, as long as it calmed her down enough from storming back up to the bridge and making another scene. He was actually concerned Spock might do the same to her as he'd done to Jim. "You're right."

"They're out to get him, Bones," Rosie plopped down on her sofa, defeated.

"What're you talkin' about?"

"Upper level members of Starfleet," she explained. "There've been a few who didn't like that Pike managed to convince him to enlist. They knew who he was because of his father. They've tracked him growing up. They've been looking for an excuse to get him thrown out since he started at the academy. That's why no one cared that I actually created the program. Everyone I talked to was involved in the plot to get rid of him."

"That can't be true," the doctor figured she was going off the deep end now.

"It is. Pike showed me the documentation. All the requests for expulsion. Jim just keeps making enemies at the academy," Rosie sighed. "I deleted the majority of the worst things. What?" Bones was giving her a disapproving face. "He's not had a fair chance at proving himself. Anyway, I don't know if it'll help. Unless he does something incredible, there's no way he's going to change those people's minds. They'll just find some other reason."

"Darlin'," Bones moved across the room and sat next to her now, "you and I will figure this out. One way or another. But not right now. Let's talk about something else, huh? Keep your mind off 'a things."

"Like what?"

"How 'bout the fact that you were one of the people in charge of the construction of this ship? You could've mentioned that, you know."

"Yeah," Rosie laughed a little, thinking how silly it was to never have mentioned her biggest project to date. "I guess I could have."

"How'd you get assigned that job? You couldn't have been that old when it started."

"I wasn't," she admitted. "I was seventeen. It was right after that crazy doctor tried to kill me. I'd been attacked and had my current project taken away by Starfleet and deemed a failure. I was actually thinking about leaving Starfleet. Going home."

"What changed your mind?"

"When I was in medical, recovering, I'd drawn a schematic of a starship. A schematic of the mini ship I built when I was fifteen, the one that caused Starfleet to recruit me, but on a real scale. Someone found the schematic and liked it. They asked if I'd be in charge of designing and constructing her," Rosie smiled at the memory, glancing around the room. "So I stayed. And here we are, inside the starship of my dreams."

XXXX

Jim figured he was going to die, alone and freezing, on the desolate land of Delta Vega. He had been chased down by some vicious looking white beast. Conveniently, that beast had dropped out the chase due to being killed by something much larger that had popped out of the ground. Not so conveniently, the larger thing had decided to chase Jim once it was done with the white beast.

Jim thought he'd been safe when he ended up rolling down the side of a large hill, but the thing had decided to roll down after him. It had even followed him into a cave, and now had its tongue wrapped around his ankle, determined to eat him apparently. In what Jim thought were his last moments of life, all he could think about was that he wouldn't be able to see Rosie again.

Jim was surprised to find, however, the beast backing off due to a man waving a torch at it. "Hello, Jim," the man said when he turned around, and Jim realized from the pointed ears that he was most likely Vulcan. "How did you find me?"

"How do you know my name?" Jim was freaked out as he scrambled to his feet.

"I have been and always shall be your friend."

Jim couldn't help but laugh at that. "Okay, look," Jim tried to reason with the obviously unstable Vulcan, "I don't know how. I have no idea who you are."

"I am Spock." Jim had no response to that one.

XXXX

Jim remained silent for quite some time while Spock spoke on about how good it was to see him again, but eventually he couldn't keep quiet any longer, "Sir, I appreciate what you just did. But if you were Spock, you'd obviously know we're not friends. Spock marooned me here for mutiny. He hates me and Rosie and…"

"You are not the captain?" the Vulcan claiming to be Spock seemed extremely surprised.

"No. No," Jim wasn't sure why he was humoring the man. "You became the captain after Pike was taken hostage."

"By Nero."

That caught Jim's attention. "What can you tell me about him?"

The Vulcan got up, crossing the space between them, and said, "This will be easier." Jim was freaked out, but let him press his fingers to his face. In his head, Jim saw, heard, and felt Spock's explanation of what was going on, how he was from the future, what happened to Romulus, why Nero was so hell-bent on vengeance, how he and Nero had come to be in the current time. Jim was actually glad when the Vulcan removed his hand; he was breathing heavily, trying to sort out all the emotions that were flying through him.

"Forgive me," Spock told him. "Emotional transference is an effect of the mind meld."

"So you do feel."

"Yes."

"Going back in time…you changed all of our lives. I have to get back to the ship," Jim announced suddenly. "I have to get back to Rosie. She and I can come up with a plan."

"Rosie?" Spock's eyebrows went up at that. "Who is Rosie?"

"How can you not know Rosie? I thought we were friends, Spock. Rosie's my best friend, aside from Bones."

"The Jim in my time never knew a woman named Rosie."

"Rosalyn Moure. She's a lieutenant commander on the _Enterprise_."

A look of realization crossed Spock's face. "Lieutenant Commander Moure. The designer of the _Enterprise_." Jim looked like he was quite confused by that announcement, but Spock continued on. "Jim and I never had the honor of meeting her. Her life ended when she was very young. Murdered, if I remember correctly."

"Yeah, well, she's alive," Jim hurriedly explained. "I've got to get back to her."

"Then let's go. There is a Starfleet outpost not far from here."

XXXX

The pair reached the outpost and was escorted into another room by a short green man. Now, a clearly irate man was rambling to them in a Scottish accent. "Fascinating," Spock interrupted the man's tirade. "You are Montgomery Scott."

"Aye, that's me," the man continued on. "You're in the right place." He started rambling on and on about relativistic physics and about how that's why he was stuck on the planet on punishment.

"Your theory on transwarp beaming is correct, Mr. Scott," Spock interrupted again. When Scott looked skeptical, he added, "You haven't discovered it yet, however."

"Are you from the future?"

"He is. I'm not," Jim explained as simply as possible.

XXXX

Scotty led the pair to a small transporter, rambling on and on, making strangely suggestive comments about the _Enterprise_. "You know, the_ Enterprise_ has a really good engineer aboard?" Jim tried to make small talk with him while Spock poked about. "Rosie Moure. You ever talked to her?"

"Damn, Moure's onboard?" Scotty's face seemed to light up at the thought. "Never been able to get her to talk. Took a few of her courses back at the academy. Just not very chatty. She's a brilliant one, they say. Figures she'd be onboard. Designed the _Enterprise _herself. What's that?" Scotty moved over to see what Spock was typing into the machine.

"Your equation for transwarp beaming."

While Scotty marveled over the equation, Jim tried to convince Spock to come with him, "You have to come with. The other Spock is never going to believe me. Rosie will. Bones…will probably order a psych evaluation. But Spock will never believe me."

"He cannot be made aware of my existence. To stop Nero, you alone must take command of your ship. You have an extra person on your side," Spock was clearly referring to Rosie, "that the Jim from my time didn't. You're already ahead."

"How?"

"Any person in command who is emotionally compromised by the mission at hand, must resign said command."

"So I have to…emotionally compromise…you…guys?"

"I am already emotionally compromised, Jim. I just lost my planet. Get me to show it."

"Let's get this over with," Scotty interrupted now, already standing in the transporter.

Jim moved over and got inside the other side of the transporter. "You know," he said as he was waiting for Spock to transport them, "Coming back in time and changing history, that's cheating."

Something close to a smile crossed Spock's face. "A trick I learned from an old friend," he replied as he pressed the button on the transporter, and Jim and Scotty began to beam off of Delta Vega.

**XXXX**

**A/N: Sorry for not updating last night! I ended up fixing up some typos that I found instead of writing. Hope you enjoyed :) Thank you again to everybody who's reviewed/favorited/followed. If you guys have any sort of feedback (be it good, bad, constructive criticism), please let me know!**


	15. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I sadly only own Rosie.**

**XXXX**

On the bridge, the automated computer voice announced, "Unauthorized access of water turbine control board detected."

Spock stopped talking with his father and moved towards Chekov's console, "Bring up the video, Mr. Chekov."

"Yes, Sir," the Russian tapped at the screen, bringing up the security footage. It was clearly Jim on the video, dragging a soaking wet man along with him.

Spock's gaze hardened. "Security, seal off Engineering. We have intruders in Section Three. Bring them to me."

XXXX

Jim was annoyed that he and Scotty had been so quickly apprehended by the security detail. They dragged them along, phasers pointed at their backs, to the bridge.

Rosie hadn't been on the bridge when Jim had been discovered to be back on the ship, however, she entered the bridge from the opposite side, just as Jim and Scotty were dragged in by the security team. "Jim?" She was stunned to see him to say the least.

The bridge personnel ignored her, as Spock crossed the distance between him and the security officers. "Who are you?" he said to the soaking wet man next to Jim.

"He's with me," Jim answered before Scotty could get a word out.

"We are travelling at warp speed," Spock glared at Jim. "How did you manage to get aboard this ship?"

"You figure it out. You're the genius here." Jim was really pushing his luck, and it was making Rosie nervous.

"Jim!" she hissed as she made her way across the room to stand next to him. "Knock it off."

Jim was completely ignoring her, however. When Spock ordered him to answer his question, Jim's only response was, "Well, I'm not telling."

Jim's blatant ignoring her was making her want to slap him. So, instead of focusing on the fight that was currently brewing between Spock and Jim, she turned her focus on the man next to Jim. "Hi, please ignore these two," she told him. "They both think the other is an idiot. Oh, I know you," recognition crossed Rosie's face. "You're Montgomery Scott, right?"

"I am," Scotty turned his attention to her, tuning out Jim and Spock's passive-aggressive comments that were still flying. "Nice to finally talk to you, Ms. Moure."

"I've been following your transporter theories for the past year or so," their small talk continued, "I'm not really good with transporters, maybe one day you could explain…"

Their side discussion was cut short when Jim moved forward, challenging Spock. "What is it with you?" he inclined his head to the side, as if trying to figure something out. "Your planet was just destroyed in front of you. Your own mother murdered. And you're not even upset?" Spock tried to rationalize, but Jim pushed on, "You yourself said fear was imperative for command. Did you not see what Nero did?"

Spock didn't move, and his expression still hadn't changed. But the tone of his voice was taking a turn. "Yes, of course I did. Step away from me, Mr. Kirk."

"Jim," Rosie tried to get his attention again now, grabbing onto his arm. He shrugged her off.

"What is it like not to feel anger? Or sadness? Or the need to avenge your mother?" Spock tried to tell Jim to get away from him again, but Jim just wasn't letting up, "It must not even compute for you. You never loved her."

And then all hell broke loose. Spock's fist was flying and made contact with Jim's face. As Jim staggered, Spock grabbed him by the front of the shirt and flung him into a console. He punched Jim again before latching his hand around his throat and squeezing.

"Get off him!" Rosie rushed over when it was clear Spock wasn't letting up. Spock instinctively turned, not letting go of Jim's neck, and the back of his hand made contact with her face. The hit sent Rosie to the ground.

"Spock!" his father, Sarek, uttered. It took a moment to register, but Spock looked down at Jim and released his throat. When he turned, he saw Rosie sitting on the ground, dabbing at her lip. She was trying to stop it from bleeding. Jim's wheezing coughs were the only sound on the bridge for a few moments.

Jim pulled himself up off the console and hurried over to Rosie while Spock still was silent. Jim tugged her up, "You okay?" She nodded wordlessly. "Here, let me help," Jim dabbed at her lip with the sleeve of his shirt, trying to get the blood that was dripping under control.

Spock had moved over to Bones. "Doctor," he started, "I am no longer fit for duty. I relinquish my command based on the fact that I am emotionally compromised." And with that, he hurried off the bridge.

"Great job, Jim," Bones piped up after a few moments. "Now we've got no captain, and no goddamn first office to replace him."

"Yes, we do," Jim answered, moving to sit in the captain's chair.

"Pike made Jim first office," Rosie mumbled, still pressing the back of her hand into her lip. "Just before they got in the shuttlecraft."

"You've gotta be kiddin' me."

XXXX

The ship was in chaos. Everyone was running around trying to get things situated with the new change in command. On the bridge however, Rosie was silent. Bones and Jim had both tried to get her to talk, both afraid the hit she'd taken from Spock had shocked her into reliving either the explosion or her attack years ago. She shrugged both of them off. After some time, she randomly announced, "I'll be right back." No one moved to stop her.

She exited the bridge and wandered for a while, before she realized where her feet had taken her. She was outside Spock's living quarters. She made a quick decision and pressed the chime to signal she was there. When Spock didn't answer, she typed her override code into the screen next to the doors, and they slid open. She walked in and found Spock sitting on a couch, facing away from her.

"Hello, Miss Moure," he said without turning to her.

"Hi, Spock," she walked around the couch, sitting herself on it as well, but away enough to keep some distance between them. "Are you okay?"

"I am…conflicted," he admitted to her. "I have just spoken with my father, and while it was very informative, it has not completely put my mind at ease." He finally turned to look at her, and his eyes locked on her lip. "Please, accept my deepest apologies. I was not in my right mind when I struck you."

"It's fine," she smiled a little, running her fingers across the gash. "Bones got the bleeding to stop. And Jim was egging you on, so I kind of blame him more than you. He's rather obnoxious sometimes."

"Indeed."

"Besides," she let out a laugh, "A split lip isn't anything compared to that chemical explosion a few months ago."

Spock's eyebrow went up in intrigue. "You were in that explosion?"

"Yup."

"Then I am sorry again. And glad you are alright."

"Thanks." The pair was quiet for a while before Rosie spoke up again, "Look, Spock, I know we're not exactly friends. And you certainly don't care for Jim. I know he seems insane sometimes, but he's usually pretty correct. Come back to the bridge." Spock looked very confused by her request. "We could use all the help we can get. I'm really only good with engineering things…warp cores and shields and such. I'm pretty worthless up there right now, trying to come up with ideas."

"I do not think that is a wise idea."

"Why? Because of strangling Jim? He'll get over it." When she was pretty sure she wasn't really going to get anywhere, she stood up. "You don't have to come right now. Just think about it. Please." She moved towards the doors to leave.

When she was in the doorway, Spock stopped her, "Moure?"

"Rosie. Call me Rosie."

"Rosie," Spock started, "thank you."

"You're welcome, Spock." And with that, she let the doors slide shut behind her as she headed back to the bridge.

XXXX

By the time Rosie made it back to the bridge, Jim had ordered every crewmember to their battle stations and was prepping to chase after Nero's ship. Currently, everyone on the bridge was in deep discussion, trying to sort out what the best way to do that undetected would be. Chekov was currently explaining to Jim how they could drop out of warp behind one of Saturn's moons and be covered by the radiation from the planet's rings.

"How old are ya, kid?" Bones asked when Chekov was done with his explanation.

"Sewenteen, Sir," the Russian proclaimed proudly.

"Oh," Bones was clearly about to be sarcastic. "Oh, good, Jim. He's seventeen."

Rosie, who'd been standing silently by her console for a good while, piped up, "I think seventeen's an acceptable age, Bones."

"Sorry," he grumbled, remembering how old Rosie had been when starting her Starfleet career. He looked like he was going to say something else, but that thought was interrupted.

"Doctor," Spock had quietly made his way back onto the bridge without anyone noticing, "Mr. Chekov is correct. If Mr. Sulu can get us into position I can beam aboard Nero's ship and steal back the black hole device."

"I can't allow you to do that, Mr. Spock," Jim said.

Rosie stomped across the bridge and punched him in the arm. "Seriously, Jim?"

"Romulans and Vulcans share a common ancestry," Spock tried again. "It would be easier for me to access computers to find the device. Also, my mother was human, which makes Earth the only home I have left."

"Fine," Jim said after a moment of consideration. "If Rosie thinks it's a good plan, then we'll go with it. But I'm coming with you."

"I would cite regulation, but you will ignore it."

Jim laughed out loud at that one. "See? We are getting to know each other." He slapped Spock's shoulder as he walked by.

Rosie rolled her eyes at his antics, but looked at Spock, "Told you he'd get over it."

**XXXX**

**A/N: Thank you all so much for the comments/follows/favs! Any and all feedback is always encouraging! :) Hope you enjoyed the new chapter. Like I said last chapter, any feedback whatsoever is appreciated, so let me know!**


	16. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I only own Rosie****.**

**XXXX**

Rosie was in the transporter room watching Scotty type away on the console in front of him. He typed in the equation Spock had used to get him and Jim off of Delta Vega. "Is this how you guys got on the ship?' she asked him, peering over his shoulder at the screen.

"Yes indeedy, lass."

"Huh," Rosie read over it again. "So it assumes space is the thing moving, right?" When Scotty nodded in response, she continued on. "Sorry about the questions. Like I said, I'm not that good with transporters. That's genius, the space moving thing. How'd you come up with it?"

"Err…" Scotty wasn't exactly sure what to say to that one. "It just came to me one day."

Sulu's voice came over the communications equipment before she could ask anything further, "Transporter Room, we are in position above Titan."

"Really? Fine job, Mr. Sulu," Scotty answered him back as Jim, Spock, and Uhura entered the room.

"How are we guys?" Jim asked.

"Unbelievably, Sir, the ship is in position," Scotty announced, putting some final commands into the transporter console.

Jim tapped the console to talk with the bridge. "Whatever happens, Mr. Sulu," his voice held an edge Rosie had never heard in it before, "if you think you have a tactical advantage, you fire on that ship, even if we're still on it. That's an order." Sulu answered affirmatively, even though he didn't sound enthused by the idea. "Otherwise, we'll contact the _Enterprise_ when we're ready to beam back."

"Jim," Rosie moved closer to him, unsure of what else to say.

"I can't promise I'm coming back soon this time," he told her as he tugged her into a hug. "It would be a lie after what I just told Sulu."

"It would," she agreed as she pressed herself harder against his chest, her arms wrapped around his middle. "I need you, Jim."

Jim took a deep breath as he processed that statement. Gently, he pushed her back from him to look at her. "I'm going to do everything I can to come back to you. I swear I am," he told her. He took a few more quick breaths, his eyes flicking back and forth between her eyes and her lips, before he leaned forward and placed a single kiss on her lips.

Rosie's facial expression told Jim immediately what she was feeling when he pulled back from her: stunned. "I…" she wasn't sure what to say, leaving the sentence hanging.

Jim's throat tightened up, and he felt like he couldn't breathe. Feeling stupid for misinterpreting her, he tried to take it back, "I'm sorry…sorry…"

She placed a hand on either side of his face and pulled him down to her, kissing him again. "Don't. Don't be sorry," she said when she released him. "I was just surprised. Go. We'll talk when you get back."

Jim walked over to the transporter pad in a slight daze. It took a moment for him to notice Spock and Uhura next to him, also kissing. He looked back over to Rosie confusion clear on his face. She was grinning from ear to ear, her fingers pressed to her lips. He jabbed a thumb through the air towards the couple next to him, silently asking her if she knew about it. Her eyes darted over, and nodding, she mouthed to him, _Obvious_.

Jim listened to their exchange, the conversation similar to his and Rosie's just moments ago. Spock ended it with, "Thank you, Nyota." Uhura kissed him again before stepping off the pad.

"So…her name's Nyota?" Jim asked the Vulcan.

Spock didn't even turn to look at him as he stoically answered, "I have no comment on the matter."

Rosie couldn't help but burst out laughing at that. Her laughter made both Jim and Spock look over at her. "Sorry," she managed to choke out between giggles. Spock only raised an eyebrow at her, which Jim shot her a lopsided grin and winked at her.

"Okay," Scotty indicated he was ready by interrupting, "If there's any sense in the design of the enemy ship, I should be putting you somewhere in the cargo bay."

Jim locked eyes with Rosie just as he said, "Energize." And he and Spock vanished.

XXXX

Uhura and Rosie both ran as fast as they could to the bridge. They entered at the same time. "Crap," Rosie mumbled as soon as she caught sight of the sensors around. "They've lowered the drill."

"Communications and transport are inoperable," Uhura announced after looking at her sensors. "Sulu, please tell me you have them."

Sulu was obviously frustrated. He slammed a hand down on the console in front of him before answering, "Kirk and Spock are on their own now."

XXXX

It was the longest twenty minutes of Rosie's life, standing around staring at blank sensors, hoping they'd show something. Finally, just when she thought she might lose her sanity, they changed. "The drill's off!" she shouted, elated.

"Communications and transport are back up," Uhura confirmed Rosie's announcement. "I've got locks on Spock and Kirk. Spock went to warp…on his own. The black hole device must be on a ship of some sort. Kirk just went to warp now. Nero must be following him."

"Follow them," Rosie ordered Sulu.

"Yes, Ma'am," the helmsman answered, sending the _Enterprise_ into warp after them. After a moment, he spoke up again, "The _Narada_ has fired at the ship the Spock is on."

"Fire on those torpedoes, Mr. Sulu," Rosie ordered, slightly terrified of whether or not she was doing the right thing. "We haven't heard from them. We can't beam them back yet." Her heart was pounding, adrenaline pumping through her as she watched the view screen. Spock held fast to his course, even after they'd destroyed the torpedoes heading for him. She knew what he was doing; he was going to crash the ship into the _Narada_. Her grip on her console tightened to keep herself in check as she watched the ships inch closer and closer together on the view screen, waiting to hear from either Jim or Spock.

She let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding when Jim's voice shouted out through the comms, "_Enterpise_, now!"

"Get them back here, Mr. Scott!" she shouted, almost frantically, into the comm connecting to the transporter room. All was silent on the bridge as they watched the smaller ship slam into the _Narada_ without any word from the transporter room. She managed a glance across the room at Uhura. The usually strong woman looked like she was about to pass out.

It was only a few seconds, but it seemed like an eternity before Scotty's voice echoed through the bridge again. He was laughing excitedly as he shouted, "I've never beamed three people from two targets onto one pad before!"

"Oh goodness gracious," Rosie breathed out again, sagging against her console. "Good job, Scotty," she told the Scotsman over the communicator.

**XXXX**

**A/N: Sorry for the short-ish chapter. We're so close to the end! But never fear, I have planned another fic (in between this and Into Darkness), as well as a fic for Into Darkness, so just hang in there :) As always, I want to thank everyone who favorited/followed/reviewed! Feedback is always encouraging!**


	17. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I only own Rosie.**

**XXXX**

When both Spock and Jim entered the bridge, Rosie and Uhura visibly relaxed. "Keptain," Chekov enthusiastically announced, "the enemy ship is losing power. Their shields are down."

"Hail them now," Jim ordered, as he walked to the center of the bridge. Nero appeared on the view screen after a moment. "This is Captain Kirk of the _USS Enterprise_," Jim announced. "Your ship is compromised. You're too close to the singularity to survive without assistance, which we are willing to provide." Spock turned around, and he and Jim mumbled together, out of earshot from Rosie. She was sure Spock was confused by Jim's offer and was trying to understand.

Their conversation was cut short by Nero, "I would rather suffer the end of Romulus a thousand times. I would rather die in agony than accept help form you."

"You got it," Jim answered. He moved back to the captain's chair. "Fire everything we've got on them." The bridge crew watched from the view screen as their phaser hits slammed into the _Narada_, which was simultaneously being destroyed by the black hole that had been created when Spock had crashed the ship into it. The view screen suddenly lit up with a warning, screeching _Gravitational Pull_ in bright red letters. "Sulu, let's go home," Jim quickly ordered. Sulu turned the ship around, but it didn't seem to move. "Why aren't we at warp?"

"We are, sir," Sulu said.

"The black hole's pulling us in, Jim," Rosie explained as calmly as she could, reading data from her console. "Pulling us backwards faster than warp is pushing us forward."

"Captain!" Scotty's voice came over the intercom, "We're in the gravity well. It's got us!"

"Go to maximum warp!" Jim shouted back.

"I'm giving her all she's got, Captain!"

Cracks were beginning to form in the ceiling of the bridge. "All she's got isn't good enough!"

"Scotty!" Rosie cut in, "Eject the warp core! Blow it up! The explosion could give us enough of a boost to get out of it!"

"Aye, that might work," Scotty answered. "But I cannae promise anything, though! The problem is that that's the main energy reactor in the propulsion system! The helms on the bridge aren't exactly designed to be able to hold the ship stable without the power from the reactor. She'll move erratically, possibly turn back into the black hole."

Rosie knew that she had to come clean now, even if the information was classified, "There's a prototype system for controlling the ship on board. It'll be able to hold the ship stable while we get out of the gravity well," she explained as quickly and as minimally as she could. "Give me a minute to get running, and then eject the core."

She looked to Jim for confirmation. The cracks in the ship were growing, and he frantically shouted, "Do it!"

"Chekov," Rosie turned her attention on the Russian boy, typing as she talked, "you need to move." He did so, and as soon as he did, she hit the final button in the command and his console slid forward, revealing a black console underneath it. There were a few screens inlaid in it, and ten openings. Rosie ran across the bridge, throwing herself into the chair Chekov had previously occupied, and slipped all ten of her fingers into the openings. She winced as the machinery locked onto her fingers, but called to Scotty, "Do it now!"

No one said anything as they felt the explosion rock the ship. Jim's eyes were focused on Rosie, watching her wincing and shaking with effort to hold the ship stable while it rode out the wave. Sulu was doing his best with the helm, although it was clear he really wasn't doing much.

It took a few moments, but the ship's movement smoothed out, and the gravitational alarms shut off. Jim glanced around the bridge, fixing everyone with a cocky grin, before he told Sulu, "Take us home." Sulu acknowledged the command, and Jim rose from his chair and moved over to Rosie. She was still attached to the console by her fingers, her chest heaving with exertion. "What the hell is this thing?" he asked her, kneeling down next to her.

"The experiment," she wheezed, "my ex and I were working on before he vanished. We were working on equipment to make it so a starship could be run with minimal personnel. Particularly run by one person. It takes commands from your fingers and translates them into the ship. It's more effective than a computer, because it takes into account how hard you are issuing the commands."

"I thought you said Starfleet classified it as a failure."

"They did."

"Then why is it on the _Enterprise_?"

"Because I designed the _Enterprise_," Rosie was beginning to catch her breath now. "I had the access to install it. They classified it as a failure because it killed everyone who used it besides my ex and I. But I figured if I could use it, why not have it on the ship I'm serving on, just in case." Rosie felt the click, indicating the machinery had released her fingers. She slid them out of the console, wincing.

"Jesus," Jim muttered, looking at her hands. Her fingers were gashed in hundreds of places, blood leaking out from every direction.

"Yeah, it does that," she shrugged it off, trying to keep the blood from dripping onto the console. "That's why we had the doctor working with us."

"There's no way in hell you're using that again," Jim reached out, cupping his hands underneath hers to catch the blood. "Let's get you to medical."

XXXX

Bones had patched Rosie up as best as he could. He'd used a skin regenerator and closed the cuts, but they were deep and so numerous that now, a few days later, they were slightly still visible.

Currently, she was sitting in the front row of the auditorium next to Bones, the same auditorium that Spock had accused Jim of academic misconduct in. _Ironic_, she thought to herself, a small smile on her face, _how things come full circle_.

"The assembly calls Captain James Tiberius Kirk," the man heading the meeting spoke. Jim was standing at the front of the room, in front of the man who was, just days ago, threatening to expel him from the Academy. "Your inspirational valor and supreme dedication reflect the utmost credit to yourself, your crew, and the Federation. It is my honor to award you this commendation," the man stopped his dictation to turn and pin the award to Jim's uniform. After a moment, he continued, "You are hereby directed to report to Admiral Pike, _USS Enterprise_, for duty as his relief."

Jim was beaming as he shook the man's hand. He moved over to stand in front of Pike, who was still in a wheelchair, recovering from his ordeal with Nero. "I relieve you, Sir," Jim told him.

"I am relieved," Pike answered, a smile full of pride on his face. "Congratulations, Captain." He reached out and shook Jim's hand as the auditorium broke out in applause.

XXXX

Jim was back in his living quarters, alone, after the ceremony in the auditorium. He was packing up the last of his things, getting ready to move them to the _Enterprise _the next morning, when the door chimed. He moved to answer it, but the doors opened on their own.

Rosie was standing there, a huge grin on her face. "I'm so proud of you!" she barreled into the room, and hurled herself at Jim. He caught her, laughing. "Captain," she added on, for prosperity.

Remembering her fingers, he quickly sobered and pushed her back from him and scrutinized her hands, ignoring her protests. "How are your fingers? Do they still hurt?"

"Itchy," she grumbled, "I hate skin regenerators. But they don't hurt anymore."

"Good," Jim answered and tried to think of how he was going to phrase what he wanted to say. After a minute, he spoke again, "Look, Rosie. I know you said years ago that you weren't looking for a relationship. If…if you still feel that way…"

"I don't," Rosie stopped him before he could go on. "That was before I got to know you like I do now."

"Oh, thank God," Jim sighed and pulled her into a kiss. He didn't rush it or try anything further. He pulled back after a few moments. "I know you haven't had great experiences with relationships. I swear this is all on your time. I'm not rushing anythi…"

"Oh my God, shut up already," Rosie pulled his mouth back to hers to stop him from rambling.

When the second kiss ended, Jim couldn't help it; he just blurted it out, "I love you, Rosie."

She smiled, her green eyes shimmering. "I love you too, Jim."

XXXX

Bright and early, both Rosie and Jim had left Jim's living quarters and boarded a shuttlecraft together to the _Enterprise_. Spock had volunteered himself to be first officer, and Jim had readily accepted. Everything was in place, everyone at their stations.

Jim was sitting in the chair at the center of the bridge. Rosie quietly moved over next to him, leaning down so her mouth was close to his ear. "You ready for this, Captain?"she whispered to him.

Jim turned his head and shot her a giant grin. "Hell yes," he told her, his smile growing wider. "Let's get this show on the road!"

And the crew took the _Enterprise_ out for her first of many official missions.

**XXXX**

**A/N: Done! Thank you to everyone who's favorited/followed/reviewed! I can't tell you how much I appreciate it! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Like I said last chapter, I'll be back soon with a sequel of the time in between the Nero incident and Into Darkness, and eventually after that, one for Into Darkness.**

**Edit: The first sequel is now up and in progress. It's called Learning Curve :)**


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